The Temptation of Silas
by Elizabeth7
Summary: SilasOC. Sequel to 'The Salvation of Silas'. When Sennett goes missing, Silas is tempted to kill again. Will he remember his promise to Bishop Seraphim?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N – This story is a direct sequel to 'The Salvation of Silas' which can be found on this web-site._

_Please read this first before attempting to read the sequel, as you will not recognize many of the OCs or follow the story without having done so._

_* * *_

_And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil_

_Matt 6:13_

**Chapter One**

_Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her_

_Ephesians 5:25_

Sennett agreed to marry Silas that Sunday much to the Abbott's joy. Sennett and Silas went in to Zurich together to buy rings and make arrangements for a honeymoon to Guarda in the Engadine valley region. Guarda was a very quiet village set well off the tourist track. The village had strong Romansh culture and beautiful mountain scenery or so Abbott Philemon had assured them. He had also recommended spending part of their time in Pontresina, a low-key resort village in the St Moritz lakes region. There he promised them unforgettable lakes, lush valleys and rugged glaciers. As long as these places weren't tourist traps, Sennett was happy. The less people from outside Switzerland who saw Silas and his distinctive looks the better, as far as she was concerned.

Silas was very proud to be able to buy Sennett her wedding ring with his wages from working on the Abbey farm. His new employer was taking over responsibility for his studies, so the Abbey had paid out Silas his back wages. It was a long time since Silas had had money of his own, since well before he had been in jail or joined Opus Dei. It was a novelty to him again.

The Abbott had taken Silas aside and explained to him his financial position and also the best way to use the funds that would now come to him.

"You must use these funds to buy a wedding ring for Sennett and also a wedding gift. Other than that, let Sennett take care of any practical expenses until you're living together and both earning an income. She is a wealthy woman and used to being financially independent. She won't expect you to contribute financially until such a time as you've begun the apprenticeship on the farm. It will only be for a few weeks," the Abbott counseled wisely.

Silas nodded, his pale eyes withdrawn as he thought about what the Abbott had said. Sennett had already spent a lot of her wealth on him but she never made him feel like he owed her anything. She seemed to take her own wealth for granted and it passed easily through her hands to others, she was not grudging with it. Spending £20,000 on a private plane was like spending £2 to her. She did it with the same thoughtlessness.

What the Abbott understood and Silas did not was that Silas' own unworldliness aided their rather unequal relationship. A different sort of man would feel very keenly the inequality between them and come to resent the favours Sennett had done. It would have become a wedge driven between them. Silas' humility had enabled him to reach out and take the love that was there for him where a more proud man would have walked away from it.

Sennett and Silas split up in Zurich so Sennett could buy a dress. This suited Silas because he wanted to buy Sennett a wedding present. He had pleaded with the Abbott to come with him because he knew he would buy something dreadful without guidance so the Abbott had made up a reason to hitch a lift with them into Zurich and then he met up with Silas later once Sennett had gone off to the dress shops.

* * *

Finally, all was ready for the simple wedding and the monks were gathered in the Kloster, abnormally agitated with excitement, for little broke their strict routine and there was to be a small party afterwards.

Sennett had been a bit intimidated when she'd seen the Kloster as it was rather large and very ornate and she would have preferred a much smaller church particularly with so few people attending. Especially as everyone would be staring at her!

Unusually for her, she had puzzled over what to wear. One part of her just wanted to wear a simple, well-cut, white suit. Another part of her wondered if Silas would be disappointed if she was that practical and modern, and whether she should wear a proper wedding dress. Then another part of her wondered if Silas would even notice what she was wearing at all!

In the end, she had opted for an Edwardian style wedding dress with a high neck, long sleeves and a long skirt with touches of lace.

The ceremony itself was very clear and stark in her memory. She would remember very small details very sharply for the rest of her life. They had the full Catholic Mass sung by the monks and Sennett could remember how crisp the air felt, the shiny dark marble of the Kloster altar stairs, the trio of life sized angels far above their heads under the arch over the altar, the expression in Silas' pale eyes as he turned to look at her approach him (an expression she still couldn't name), the deep tones of the monks' singing, the texture of her own wedding dress and the smell of incense. She could feel Silas' long, warm fingers close over hers after the ceremony and hear the excited congratulations of the monks.

Silas was the opposite. He noticed nothing around him as he waited for the ceremony to begin. His long, pale fingers fiddled nervously with the lapels of the morning suit that the Abbott had helped him to rent in Zurich. Perhaps something would go wrong and Sennett wouldn't appear, he thought with deep agitation. Silas was used to things going horribly wrong in his life. His white head was downbent and his eyes unseeing as he contemplated the numerous things that could possibly happen. Maybe Sennett could suddenly get really sick and have to be taken to hospital. Maybe Opus Dei had found out where he was and would stop her appearing so the wedding couldn't go ahead and then they'd take him away. Or maybe Sennett would just change her mind… He tried to shake the feeling of dread but he couldn't. He was too used to disasters and heartbreak. He tried to just focus on the minutes ticking by until the ceremony started and keep his mind clear but thoughts of disaster crowded in thick and fast regardless.

Finally Sennett did appear and he watched her approach with a surreal feeling, trying not to betray his anxiety by fiddling with his uncomfortable suit again. She looked like herself but she didn't. In her wedding dress, she looked almost unapproachable, like a woman in a magazine or from a movie. But then she smiled at him and she was his Sennett again. He was still fearful, however. Something could still go wrong. Until the ring was on her finger, anything could happen. Finally the Abbott pronounced them man and wife, and Silas felt the tension drain from his muscles. He felt odd kissing her in front of the monks, men he had lived with for so long, so he didn't kiss her as long as he wanted to (which wouldn't have been respectable anyway).

The reception was, by necessity, brief as the monks had another service to attend as part of their Daily Office. Some of the locals who knew Silas through his work on the Abbey farm had been invited as well and they met Sennett with curious but kind looks and talked approvingly amongst themselves about how beautiful and elegant she was. They were surprised at the match as it was obvious Silas was not from the same background but they could see from the way Sennett and Silas looked at each other and spoke together during the reception that there was genuine love there.

Sennett was bemused by the fact that they both had to kiss and hug every single monk goodbye at the end of the reception as they filed off back to the Kloster for afternoon _None_. She quickly changed into her traveling suit in a small room the monks had let her use for the day and then she and Silas were ready to leave for Guarda.

They would arrive by nightfall. Sennett was happy for Silas to drive, he knew his way around Switzerland quite well already having lived there for awhile. She would still have to get used to it. It was very, very pretty and she knew she would be happy there not least because she would be with Silas. She had liked London well enough but cities were claustrophobic and she knew she would be far happier living out in a farming district.

She examined his profile in the failing light, the twilight making his eyes look eerily colourless. He was watching the road and silent as per usual. They hadn't really had any opportunity to talk privately that day and now they were both tired from the demands of the ceremony and being on public display, not an easy thing for either of them. She didn't break the silence because it was comfortable for both of them.

They arrived on nightfall and checked in to their private chalet. Silas brought the luggage in and Sennett shrugged off her traveling jacket. It was not a particularly luxurious chalet as the village was too small to have that level of accommodation but neither of them was likely to mind.

"I never thanked you for my wedding present," Sennett said, putting her hand over the ornate gold and garnet cross that was hanging around her neck and had been there all day. The Abbott had delivered it to her that morning so she could wear it with her wedding dress.

"Something new," he'd said with a smile.

Sennett's gift had been delivered to Silas at the Abbey the night before. She had given him a set of top of the range animal husbandry tools including blades, cutters, combs, clippers, shears, hoof care tools and other items she frankly didn't want to know the use for. They came in a tough leather case and she had Silas' initials stamped in one corner. The firm she ordered them from assured her that they would last a lifetime and most of them would be able to be passed on to another generation. She had also wanted to give him something personal and she had located a silver and bronze icon of St Francis.

Silas had spent half the night looking over the tools in pleasure, knowing how valuable they were and how much easier they would make his work, but he really loved the icon the best. He had no idea how she knew but he often recited the Canticles of St Francis as he worked and the Prayer of St Francis was his favourite. Then again, Sennett was a prophet so perhaps that's how she knew. She knew all sorts of strange, hidden things.

Silas flushed slightly as Sennett's thanks, his cheekbones staining a faint pink. "The Abbott helped me choose it," he admitted, looking at the floor. He stood uneasily near the centre of the room, not sure what to do next. He knew what he wanted to do, he wanted very badly to kiss her, but he felt it might be rather rude to jump on Sennett the minute they were alone.

Sennett gazed at the tall, rather gangling figure before her and could tell what he was feeling. His awkwardness radiated from him. "It's very beautiful. I'll wear it all the time," she promised and went over to him, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. Silas didn't need any help after that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_Their __lies__ lead them astray, l__ies__ which their fathers followed._

_Amos 2:4_

Silas wasn't sure if he was awake or asleep and dreaming, but he felt wonderful. Perhaps he was dead and this was heaven, this blissful restfulness and feeling of total security. He felt so peaceful that he hoped that whatever state he was in, it never changed. If he still had a body, he couldn't feel it, so there had to be no tension whatsoever in any muscle.

Sennett knew she was awake. It was only just on dawn and the light was barely picking out Silas' long, lean form next to her on the bed. He had her pinned down with one heavy arm and leg, as if afraid she would disappear into thin air in the night if he didn't hold her there. She could just make out the scars on his back. She had never seen them before and they were no longer angry and red as when her neighbour, Diggory had treated the wounds. They had faded back to a pale pink but they were still raised from his white skin. Obviously they had either been deep or had been inflicted in the same place over and over, most likely the latter. The scars didn't repulse her but the thought of what he used to do to himself made her feel sick. She deliberately pushed the thought away. Gently she ran her fingers over the cool skin, feeling the raised scars under her fingertips as she did so. She didn't want to wake him but her instinct to caress him even as he slept was almost absent-minded, as though her fingers could smooth away the scars.

She had sensed the hunger in Silas long before she encountered it in the form of sexual desire. Desire was a separate thing anyway, she thought as she lay there. There was a hunger in him for acceptance, for affection, for someone to be interested in him. People who grew up without those things from their parents spent their lives looking for it elsewhere. He had done many terrible things in order to be accepted by Aringarosa and to belong at Opus Dei. Aringarosa had used Silas' thirst for affection against him, making the young man love him and then making him kill for him.

Silas' desire now burnt with a flame as white as his hair (as did her own) but time would mellow that. What would not change was Silas' hunger for acceptance and affection.

Silas decided he wasn't dead because he could feel cool fingers stroking over the skin of his back. It felt delicious, he didn't want to move. Slowly he realized he could also feel a soft body under his arm and leg, and the events of the day before came back in a rush. He was suddenly wide awake. He still didn't want to move because he felt so good but he could feel his face burning with a dreadful blush as he remembered the night before.

It was at that moment Sennett realised he was awake.

"Silas?" Sennett said sleepily, still absently caressing his back.

He was afraid to lift his head and look her in the eye, knowing his face would still be red.

"Hmmm," he mumbled, his face buried in her throat.

"Aren't you going to kiss me good morning?" she asked.

With an inward sigh of relief at this easy and pleasurable way out, he immediately did so.

* * *

Sennett and Silas stayed in Guarda for three weeks and then spent a week in Pontresina.

For some reason he couldn't explain to himself, Silas felt very different after his honeymoon than before. It wasn't just that he was more relaxed. Silas already knew that he would never be the sort of man who would ever be truly relaxed and at ease. He just felt more free within himself, as though a great space had opened up within him. He was no longer constrained by his old way of thinking about his life, as though certain things were closed off to him. He knew for sure that Sennett loved him because no woman would spent so much time with any man simply touching him and talking to him without seeking any distractions unless she loved him. He was still trying to absorb that astounding fact but in trying to absorb it, it was expanding him.

True to form, she never asked anything either. Silas was used to people whose affections were expensive, usually paid for in the blood of others and in absolute obedience. Sennett just seemed to want his time and attention which he was more than happy to provide.

They had discussed where to live but had decided to take the worker's cottage on the farm where Silas had his apprenticeship. To call it a cottage was a bit of an understatement, it was built for a family and there was plenty of room for both of them. Sennett liked the idea of living in a wide open space. Each of the workers' cottages was placed in a separate field so the farm hands could keep an eye on the animals, so there was plenty of privacy.

Silas was happy enough to get back to work and back to his studies although he missed being able to spend as much time with Sennett. Sennett took up her part-time lecturing post at Berne University and found she had more time for her own researches which she enjoyed.

Another couple of months passed in this way. Sennett tried to keep out from under Silas' feet at the farm because she knew farm hands were very busy but she and the other wives were invited to certain things, such as seeing new baby animals soon after they were born. Occasionally Silas would bring a motherless baby home for the night so it could be fed regularly and Sennett would take great delight in giving the lamb or calf its bottle.

"You should be a piggie, not a lamb," she would say to it sternly as it sucked down its milk too fast and Silas would almost smile, his pale features losing their usual haunted expression for just a few seconds.

* * *

Later, Sennett told herself that the rural idyll was sure to have been shattered soon enough. They had been too happy for too long. Three months had been their fair share, obviously…

**[A Friday in late Spring…]**

The Priory of Sion had its tentacles everywhere. Silas had noted that the gathering at Rosslyn Chapel had consisted of at least twenty people but he had suspected at the time that the group was far larger and that the gathering he saw consisted only of the inner circle.

If Silas had been privy to the meeting of the Priory upon Sophie's return to Rosslyn Chapel with Langdon, he would have seen a far larger crowd; perhaps as many as fifty people. Again, this would not have been their full number but only those who lived close by.

In fact, the Priory had representatives in every major European city and at least one on every continent. They came from all walks of life. They were nurses, policemen, clergy, business people, scientists, artists, politicians, journalists, teachers, academics and so on. It was not as well organised as Opus Dei but they managed to keep in touch and keep their activities coordinated.

It was in this way that the extraordinary DNA findings held at the St John Street DNA Laboratory came to light one Friday roughly three months after Sennett and Silas were married.

The scientist who had performed the tests, Kit Ogden, was talking to a colleague about the results and how he believed they should be published and was overheard by one of the administrative staff members, who happened to be a Priory member. She mentioned the conversation to her husband, also a Priory member but also a scientist in another field, who immediately recognised the significance of the overheard conversation.

Together, they planned a way of stealing a copy of the results of the testing. As a staff member, this was not a difficult task and she was able to do so during the day while others in her section were at lunch. She printed out the results from the electronic file, put the print out in her handbag and went out to lunch herself where she met her husband and handed them over.

The woman watched her husband's face as he quickly read the results. She understood the expression before he said a word. The news was bad, very bad. His face had gone white.

"The timeframe and the genetic results are almost 100% accurate for a Mary Magdalene match, so you were right to show me this," he said gruffly. "Of course, unless we ask this Sennett Langlois where she got the sample from, we cannot be sure it really came from Mary's tomb but we do know that a woman by this name was found by a Priory member at the tomb just before this test was ordered. The strange thing is, she knew Langdon and checked out with him, so why was she conducting these tests in secret? I know Langdon knows nothing of these tests," he continued, obviously thinking out loud, his gaze turned inward.

"Are you sure Langdon doesn't know?" the woman asked, her eyes examining her husband's face keenly.

"Langdon is preparing to write an academic book proving that Sophie Neveu is the descendent of Christ. Do you think he wants genetic results that contradict that? It would ruin his grand plans. He knows it would make his career, not to mention a lot of money. Of course," he added in a whisper, "It is all the Priory has dreamed of for so long, being able to prove the truth of the Merovingian line."

He was silent for a long time.

"If these results are for Mary Magdalene and Sophie Neveu's DNA and I think they are, the Priory is finished. We will have to dissolve for real this time, not the sham dissolution of 1967. If these results say what I think they say, we've all been living under a very big delusion for a very long time," he said quietly. There were tears in his eyes.

"There was no Merovingian line, no bloodline of Christ?" his wife said agitatedly, her face creasing into a frown. "It's all been a fake and a fraud? We've all been protecting Sophie and her brother all these years as the heirs of Christ and they are no such thing? Does this mean that Mary Magdalene was never the wife of Christ either? Are you trying to tell me that the Church has been _right _all this time?" she was almost yelling by this point.

"We won't know anything for sure until we can confirm with this Sennett person that she took the bones from Mary's tomb. I'm almost certain she did but until we know for sure, we shouldn't jump to any conclusions," he said tiredly, trying to pacify his distressed wife. His own heart was broken and he knew the road ahead was going to be almost impossibly difficult to walk. If this was his own wife's reaction, he knew others in the Priory were going to be far worse. He wasn't a man to not face up to the truth, however. It was his desire for the truth that brought him to the Priory. That same desire would mean he would let go when it became obvious that the Priory was not the holder of the truth he had sought.

_A/N – If there is one thing I hate, its writing a wedding. I don't like attending them and I like writing them even less. If there's one thing I hate more than writing a wedding, it's writing a honeymoon – talk about voyeuristic. I feel like I'm spying on my own characters. Needless to say, the action part of this story got started pretty early!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

_Now on the first day of the week Mary __Magdalene__ went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb_

_John 20:1_

When Kit Ogden got back from lunch, he logged back into the system and immediately noticed a security alert on one of his files.

He frowned. Why had one of the administrative staff printed out the Langlois file? They were aware that copies of files were not permitted to be made without the scientist's sign off first due to privacy considerations.

It was an odd file too, containing potentially important historical information. He knew Sennett didn't want anything made public as yet.

He picked up the phone and rang Sennett's mobile number and had a brief conversation.

When he hung up, he went in search of the staff member.

The Priory member was dismissed from her job that afternoon pending investigation but she had no intention of staying in London. She and her husband would go to Roslin. Langdon had based himself there to be close to the Priory inner circle and the ancient documents that were held in Rosslyn Chapel. It occurred to her for the first time that many of those documents may be faked. The Priory had been accused of that before. Perhaps the accusations were true, she thought bitterly. At any rate, the Priory and Langdon needed to be shown the DNA results.

* * *

Sennett hung up her mobile phone and bit her lip. What did this mean? Why would one of the DNA Laboratory staff members be printing out her file? As she had told Ogden, she had not requested extra copies. So where had this extra copy gone?

She stared out of the window of her new office at Berne University. Outside was a broad stretch of green lawn with the odd student lolling in the sunshine.

She checked her watch. She only had another hour of her standard student office hours to go for today and then she could drive back to the farm. She would discuss it with Silas tonight. In the meantime, she had some atrocious assignments to mark.

Sennett was home less than two hours later. She quickly made some initial preparations for dinner and then pulled the last of the assignments from her briefcase to mark.

She couldn't shake the feeling of danger linked to the news about the missing DNA report. Why would someone want to steal a copy? Yes, it was potentially historically important but only if you knew the source of the bones. Something was niggling at the back of her mind but she couldn't quite reach it. She knew if she made the connection, it would all become clear.

Suddenly, Sennett did know one thing she had to do and she had to do it quickly. She reached for her mobile.

"Phillippe? How are you?" she said warmly. She didn't talk often to her cousin but when she did, their childhood bond was immediately there. Love flowed in the air and space between them.

"Sennett, how nice to hear from you. I was wondering how you were," Phillippe said, his gallic charm just the surface polish to the affection underlying it.

"Well, I'm married now Phillippe," Sennett said with a grin deciding to have the fun of shocking him.

"Married? Well, he's a brave man. I would not marry you, particularly not after the last hair raising adventure you led me on. I do not like having guns pointed at me. Perhaps he doesn't mind," Phillippe said airily, "Congratulations, by the way. I will send you a wedding present. I got your change of address email."

Sennett reflected that Phillippe, while being his usual flippant self, had hit the nail on the head. Silas was exactly the type of man who was quite used to danger and having guns pointed at him. He had never spoken much about his assassination tasks (he didn't talk much generally) but she guessed he had regularly been in a lot of danger and injured during those exploits, if the evidence of the condition she'd found him in the Cathedral grotto half dead from gun shot wounds and blood loss was anything to go by.

"There is no need to be rude," Sennett said lightly, not at all offended, "And I need you to do something else for me."

"What is it this time? Do you want me to steal the crown jewels or perhaps is it just a touch of some international espionage?" he asked glibly, "I can knock it over in my afternoon tea break tomorrow, eh?"

"No Phillippe, it is much more valuable than crown jewels and much more serious than mere international espionage," Sennett said, with a touch of the childish bossiness that echoed their play as children.

Phillippe said something mildly rude in French.

"Behave yourself and listen!" Sennett said sternly, "You remember the tomb of Magdalene?"

"How could I forget? That's when I got a gun pointed at me," Phillippe replied indignantly.

"I think those Priory people are going to try and steal the ossuary with the bones anytime now. You must act quickly, tonight if possible. The ossuary and bones must be moved to another location – a more secure location. It can be in the Louvre but it must be a location that only you can access, preferably with security codes and screening, not just locks.

"The room where the ossuary currently is held must have some kind of trip wires to alert nearby Priory members. Just like last time, the minute you enter the room, a Priory member will be making their way there and will confront you at the end of a gun. You must hire private security to stand at every possible entry point that leads to that room so the Priory members can be stopped before they even get to you. The guards must be armed and must be instructed to shoot to kill because the Priory members will kill to get to that ossuary first. They must also be paid silence money and not be told what you are moving. Hide the ossuary under a cloth while you are moving it. I will send money to cover the costs.

"Can you organise all this in a few hours, Phillippe?" Sennett asked anxiously.

"Sennett, nothing could be easier. Do you know how often our priceless works of art come under security threat? Do you have any idea the elaborate security arrangements that surround the borrowed collections that we display from time to time? I cannot tell you how many midnight assignations I have been on. As for the security guards, I will use our own. They are used to this kind of thing and are specially trained for it. We have vaults protected by lasers with steel walls so thick that bombs could not break them open. You have to use thumb prints, eye scans and elaborate codes to get in. Once the ossuary is moved in there, nothing but an act of God will get it out again!" he assured her with such confidence that Sennett began to feel the tension leave her body.

"You can arrange this tonight?" she confirmed.

"It will be done before dawn and I will ring you in the morning," he promised.

* * *

Sennett decided to say nothing to Silas that night. She knew he would just worry if she did and there were times now and then when he almost lost that haunted look. It was never for very long.

On the other hand, Silas could tell Sennett was worried about something. He watched her surreptitiously as they ate, out of the corner of his eye. She was distracted although she listened with genuine interest as he told her about the new breed of cows the farm manager had acquired which would produce milk with higher butter fat.

"Can I come and see them tomorrow? Would I be getting in anyone's way?" she asked.

Sennett was fascinated by farm animals, particularly cows. They were always so much larger than she expected and she found it funny that they were as interested in humans as humans were in them. She stared at them and they stared right back. She would talk to them too and have quite long conversations which they seemed almost to understand. Silas would watch this interaction with bemusement. To him, animals needed to be taken care of properly and handled gently. Under his diligent care, they thrived and were very healthy. The farm manager was very pleased with Silas' work. It never occurred to him to have conversations with them, however. Then again, it generally didn't occur to him to have conversations with many people either.

"No, Gunter is away this weekend anyway and he wouldn't mind – you know that," Silas said, his deep voice quiet.

* * *

**[Saturday]**

Silas thought it was strange that Sennett had taken her mobile phone with her to the cow sheds. It wasn't like her to even have her mobile phone switched on, let alone carry it with her around the farm. Silas was used to examining anomalies and almost unconsciously analysing what they meant. It had kept him alive on more than one occasion. Right now, a warning was going off in the back of his mind. Something was going on. Sennett had been worried last night. Now she was carrying around her mobile phone which wasn't like her.

Another thing that bothered him – Sennett was hiding something from him. He knew that there were all sorts of things in her interior life that he wasn't privy to. She prayed for people and knew things about them that she couldn't tell him (and he was fairly sure he didn't want to know anyway). But this was different, he could tell.

Of course, he had all sorts of secrets from her. Most of his past was a secret from her. The recent past wasn't but she didn't know he had murdered his father or the two thieves in the Cathedral who had attacked Aringarosa. Then there had been that deviant in jail with the reputation for raping young men. He had tried to attack Silas but even as a young man he was strong and like the two thieves, Silas had snapped his neck. There had been other predatory men in the jail too like the one he had killed but they left Silas alone after that – he was too feared.

Silas wondered what Sennett would make of all that. Would she hate him for it? Would her love for him die? Silas' insides turned to ice. He had waited so long for something truly good to come into his life. He glanced over at Sennett's dark head, bent over to pat one of the farm dogs. He couldn't bear to lose her now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

_Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labour in which I had toiled; and indeed all was __vanity__ and grasping for the wind. _

_Ecclesiastes 2:11_

Sennett jumped as her mobile rang. It wasn't loud but she had been waiting for Phillippe's call since early that morning. It was now only 9am but she was still on tenterhooks.

"Hello Phillippe, do you have good news for me?" Sennett said, trying to be cheerful to cover her anxiety. Glancing over her shoulder to where Silas was organising feed for the cows, she ducked outside the shed and went to stand in a shady spot nearby.

"Of course, Sennett. Did you think I would fail? The ossuary with all the bones intact was moved to our most secure vault by 1am this morning and there it will stay," he said airily, "You may thank me now."

Sennett let out her breath with relief, "Thank you, Phillippe. I really owe you one. You're an absolute star," she said sincerely.

"Sennett, I am not used to this flattery from you but I quite like the change!" Phillippe said smugly.

"Send me an email to let me know the expenses, okay? I'll deposit the money today. Did you encounter any Priory members?" she asked.

"Yes, several in fact. They came in through a few entrances, as you said they would. We caught them all before they got anywhere near the room. My security staff are very well trained and disarmed them all before they became dangerous. They will be charged with trespass. I imagine they will have a hard time explaining to the French Courts what they were doing in the Louvre at midnight. My my, they _were _angry! They were hopping mad!" Phillippe said with amusement.

"That's not good, Phillippe," Sennett said flatly, "And it worries me that they acted so fast. I only very vaguely suspected that the leaked DNA results from the Magdalena tomb was connected to the Priory. I thought perhaps it was a coincidence and maybe some random history or archeology nut just wanted access to some interesting DNA but I see now that I was being naive. It was the Priory all along. The question is, what are they going to do next?"

"Well, they won't be able to get access to the ossuary at any rate," Phillippe said confidently, "I'm the only one who knows the code for the box it's housed in within the vault - it's not recorded anywhere."

"That's good," Sennett said, "I do really appreciate your efficiency, Phillippe. I'll be in touch if anything else happens."

Sennett snapped closed her mobile and put it back in the pocket of her jacket. She felt a lot better knowing the ossuary was safe but she knew the Priory would still be up to something, she just didn't know what.

She went back into the barn and over to where Silas was finishing up his duties for the morning. He would be free now until mid-afternoon and they could spend some time together.

"That was Phillippe," Sennett said with a grin, "He said you must be a very brave man to marry me."

Silas stared at her blankly. Why would he have to be brave to marry someone like Sennett, he wondered? He would have to be incomprehensibly lucky. What were the chances that an educated, beautiful, rich woman like Sennett would want a jail rat and murderer? But even before she put her arms around his neck and kissed him, he knew she did.

He also knew that the phone call wasn't just a friendly chat between affectionate cousins. Something was happening but he didn't know how to ask Sennett to share the burden of it.

* * *

Langdon's frown grew as he listened to the husband and wife before him. Jean and Louise Lambert had been Priory members since soon after their marriage more than thirty years ago. Louise's parents had been Priory members. It was Louise who had introduced Jean to the Priory as a young man still searching for answers.

He took the piece of paper they offered him and read it quickly. He knew immediately what it meant. Sennett Langlois had not been worshipping at the tomb of Mary Magdalene at all. She had been interfering, most likely hoping to write a paper or book herself which would be at odds with his own work. She was obviously not interested in helping him with his work at all which is what she had told him at the time.

If she published, all the careful research of the past three months would be wasted and his glittering career aspirations would turn to ash, not to mention the wealth that would disappear. The Merovingian line story would be so sensational that it would spawn TV series and perhaps a movie as well making him a best selling author. He had no intention of allowing Sennett Langlois to rob him of that.

Still holding the paper in his hand, he pushed a quick dial on his mobile and had a short conversation on his mobile.

"Yes, it has to be tonight. We can't waste any time. You must move the ossuary and the bones, don't worry about the sarcophagus. Magdalene's resting place has been compromised by enemies," he said shortly.

The Lamberts watched him with aware eyes.

"What are you planning to do?" Jean Lambert asked, "The truth is out. The Merovingian line is a fake. The Priory's work is a sham. The Church was right all along," he said bitterly.

"Don't tell anyone of this yet. Leave it with me. I'll take care of everything," Langdon said. He folded the DNA results and put them in the breast pocket of his jacket.

The Lamberts looked at him questioningly.

"Everything will be fine," he said reassuringly and put one hand on each of their shoulders as he got up to leave their motel room in Roslin.

* * *

Langdon spent an anxious night waiting to hear from the Priory members based in Paris. It was essential that they moved the bones that night. If they failed, it meant there were larger forces than he had reckoned for working against them.

With Aringarosa dead, he was sure the power of the Opus Dei inner circle was broken. He should be able to pursue the publication of his book about the Merovingian line without danger.

He hadn't factored Sennett and her professional interest into the equation. Still, he hadn't judged her as being ambitious although she was certainly at the foremost of her field. Unlike Langdon, she had no desire to make a splash or a fortune. She already had a family fortune, she didn't need any other. So why did she appear to be working against the Priory's interests? He knew she was a practicing Catholic but she was not Opus Dei. Were her reasons religious? He had no idea.

It wasn't until lunchtime the next day that he found out that all the Paris based Priory members were being held in custody on break and enter charges to the Louvre. One of the other Priory members based in France made the trip in to Paris to visit them in jail and reported the news back to Langdon that none of them had even made it as far as the chamber containing the ossuary. Armed guards had been waiting for them at every entry point.

Langdon knew what that meant. The Priory had been expected to make an attempt on the chamber that night. Somehow, Sennett had been tipped off that her DNA testing records had been compromised and she'd taken precautions.

Langdon began to wonder what resources Sennett had at her beck and call. Few people could mobilise the guards at the Louvre, particularly on such short notice and without any proof that anything was going to happen.

He could feel heat coming off his skin as he saw all his careful plans begin to crumble before his eyes. He had waited a long time to have an opportunity like this come his way. Few academics ever stumbled across a find like this. Why should Sennett take it away from him? Fame and fortune were within his grasp – everything he'd ever dreamt of and worked for.

He needed to find out what her motivations were. He needed to find out what she knew and what she was planning to do with that knowledge. And he needed to find out now.

* * *

When Silas went back to see to the animals that afternoon, Sennett logged on to her email. To her delight, she saw an email there from an American friend she'd made from her academic blog.

It was an odd friendship, as Christine was a generation younger than Sennett, but they got along very well regardless.

It had started in what felt like dramatic circumstances to Sennett. She had published some information about the meaning of salvation through the resurrection on her academic blog which to Sennett, was fairly standard material, only to receive a long email from a stranger in response.

In this email, a young Canadian Wiccan told of how she had read Sennett's blog and been struck for the first time with the idea that Christ had died for _her_, personally and particularly. This revelation had led to a conversation with a Christian acquaintance which led to a church service which led to baptism.

So in the grand and profound mystery of a stranger's salvation, Sennett's blog had been one small link in a long chain.

"And God works in mysterious ways," Sennett whispered to herself in awe whenever she thought of it.

Christine wrote:

"_I'm glad I was a Wiccan before I became Christian because at least I knew the supernatural and spirits were real, and that's what sort of led me to become a Christian because I knew the supernatural things in the Bible must be true too."_

Sennett smiled. So many Christians didn't believe the supernatural things in the Bible because their own lack of faith in them prevented them from ever encountering them. Christine was so much further along than any of them already and she was only a new Christian.

"_I went to see my great uncle today. He's in hospital and he's very sick with cancer. I particularly wanted to see him because he's the only member of my family who is Christian and I know it would mean a lot to him to know I've been baptised. He's the only one in my family who would understand."_

Sennett suddenly sucked in her breath. She knew, as certainly as she knew the colour of her own hair, that Christine's uncle would not live another 24 hours.

"**And now Lord, you may let your servant depart in peace according to thy Word for with my own eyes, I have seen Your salvation," Sennett murmured, her eyes filling with tears.

She could feel this man's spirit from across the ocean. He was a *Simeon, someone who had waited faithfully their whole life to see the salvation of those he loved. Now, close to the end, he had finally witnessed it with his own eyes. It was a rare thing, to have God honour faithfulness in such a way. To see His promises fulfilled while still in the land of the living. This man, this Simeon, was truly blessed. It overwhelmed Sennett, a wave of joy breaking over her, but the joy was so intense that the human frame could barely endure it or contain it.

Eyes shining, Sennett wrote back with her own news, but she knew she would hear back soon that her uncle had passed on and Sennett was sad for Christine.

*Luke 2:25-33

**Luke 2:29-30


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

_The __enemy__ said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, My hand shall destroy them.'_

_Exodus 15:9_

It was while Sennett was engrossed at her computer that Langdon, having flown in on the first available flight to Zurich from Edinburgh, slipped a potent drug into the pot of mince that Sennett had put on the stove to cook before logging on to her computer through the open kitchen window.

It had been easy enough to find her new address through mutual academic contacts. He had simply had to contact a mutual acquaintance at Berne University and say he was passing through on Sunday and just wanted to pop in to see her for an hour on his way through to Geneva.

Langdon had no idea that Sennett had married and certainly no idea that he had married his former arch enemy, Silas. As far as Langdon knew, Silas was dead. The last report of him had been that he had been shot and seriously wounded by police officers near Kensington.

The drug itself was harmless, regardless of how much was swallowed but it was very efficacious. Only a small amount would knock a person out for long enough to get them out of the house, into a car and on the road long enough to administer a longer lasting dose.

The light failed early in Switzerland and as Autumn crept in, the days got rapidly shorter. It was already dark at a time when Silas still had another hour of work to do with the animals before coming back to the house for dinner.

Sennett finally got up from the computer to check the meal. She was hungry already, not having had lunch and she put a spoonful of mince onto a small plate to eat while she waited for Silas. The potatoes were scrubbed ready to put into the oven.

Langdon waited until she'd eaten the mince and slumped over the kitchen table before letting himself in through the kitchen door.

**[Saturday night]**

Silas knew something was wrong the minute he walked into the house. His skin prickled from his scalp to his feet. For one thing, the kitchen door had been open and Sennett always kept the doors closed. She didn't lock them unless they were both in the house but they were always closed. Secondly, the table wasn't set for dinner and unless she was working late (which never happened now in Berne), the table was always set by now. Lastly, he could see the computer screen flickering. She always turned off the computer before they sat down to eat.

He actually felt his heart begin to pick up speed and something in his spine suddenly stiffened into steel. His eyes blazed suddenly with a strange light and if Sennett had been there to see him, she would have recognised the Silas she had only seen once or twice before; the Silas who had lost his cilice or the Silas who had once talked fanatically of the sinful men of the Priory.

Deliberately he checked every room in the house but she wasn't there. Her car was in the garage but there were strange tyre tracks nearby. Not close enough to the house for a car to be heard but close enough so that a quick getaway could be made. Silas knew the signs; he'd done this sort of thing himself too often not to read them clearly.

Her medication was still in its usual place on the counter. None of her clothes were missing. Her handbag was still over a door handle. Her toiletries, brush and toothbrush were in their usual spot. She had had no intention of going anywhere.

The pale blue fire of his eyes was rapidly cooling to the wintriness and hardness of ice. This had something to do with her phone call to Phillippe. Her cousin knew something and her cousin was going to tell him, right now.

He scrolled through Sennett's email and checked her contacts, something he would never usually do. He found Phillippe's contact details and rang his mobile.

"Phillippe?" Silas said, his deep voice rasping as it always did when he was under stress.

"Who is this?" Phillippe asked suspiciously, not recognising the voice.

"Silas, Sennett's husband," Silas replied flatly, "Sennett has disappeared. Someone has broken into the house and taken her while I was on another part of the farm. I know you know something about this. I need you to tell me everything you know. I was involved in helping Sennett set up the DNA testing on Mary Magdalene's remains, so I know about that and I am very familiar with the Priory and its members."

"How do I know you are who you say you are?" Phillippe asked cautiously, "You may be a Priory member posing as Sennett's husband."

"She told me that you said I was very brave to marry her," Silas replied, impatient to get the information he needed but knowing Phillippe was right to be cautious.

"Yes, I did," Phillippe said slowly, "It seems I was right and she is really in trouble now." He was silent for a moment. "One of the staff members at the DNA laboratory where the tests were done was a Priory member," Phillippe said.

Silas sucked in his breath sharply and his pale eyes glazed over with fear.

"She found out about the unusual test and was suspicious. She printed out a copy and gave it to her husband who was also a Priory member. He recognised Sennett's name from the time a Priory member discovered both of us at the tomb when we were collecting the samples, so he was immediately fairly sure what the DNA tests were.

"Sennett was alerted almost immediately about the security breach and she had time to ask me to move the ossuary before the Priory members could get to it. She was just in time. They tried that very night and all of them were caught and charged with breaking and entering at the Louvre which is a very serious offence because of the value of our collections.

"I assume that the Priory is responsible for her disappearance now. Perhaps they are trying to get the location of the ossuary from her, I'm not sure. It is locked up in a Louvre vault and they have no hope of getting to it. I'm the only one who knows the code that can release it. Not even Sennett knows it," Phillippe explained.

Silas' mouth was so dry that he wasn't sure he could say anything.

"Thank you," he said finally and hung up.

Silas was used to thinking on his feet and as though no time had passed at all, he slipped very easily back into the skin of an Opus Dei assassin.

He printed Sennett's contact list from her email and took her mobile phone from her handbag in case there were more numbers he would need.

Carefully and swiftly he packed a backpack with things he would need including a map he printed from the internet, a drug similar to the one Langdon had used on Sennett but that he used on animals for minor operations, a dangerous knife from the husbandry tool kit that Sennett had given him, his passport, a platinum credit card, a penlight torch and enough food to last a ten hour car trip.

He also took Sennett's medication which he knew she would need as soon as he found her. Whoever took her probably had no idea that Sennett had Lupus and wouldn't care if they did, he thought with fury. He tried very hard not to think about Sennett getting hurt before he could get there and prevent it because he knew it would paralyse him. He couldn't afford that if he was going to help her.

He ran to the Land Rover and pulled off into the night. Once on the road, he put a call through to Gunter and let him know he would be absent for a few days on urgent family business.

It was going to be a long night's drive.

* * *

Langdon wasn't aware that an old and dangerous enemy was following only a few hours behind him, otherwise he may have considered taking Sennett somewhere other than Roslin.

Silas knew that the Priory would not take Sennett anywhere else and he was heading directly there. He gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles shone white through his translucent skin. The traffic lights lit up his ghostly hair and un-nervingly colourless eyes in such an eerie way that border checkpoints let him pass quickly, without comment. The chilling expression in his eyes made some of the border guards shudder and they had seen all types.

* * *

Sennett was waking up and couldn't understand why everything was dark around her and she was moving. Where was Silas?

"If you promise to behave yourself, I won't give you any more of that drug but if you are difficult, I won't hesitate to do so," said a familiar voice coldly.

She felt groggy and couldn't place it immediately. It took a few seconds for her to realise she was in a car and it was night-time.

"Robert?" Sennett said incredulously, "Where are we? Where are we going?"

"We're on our way to Roslin. I wanted to ask you some questions about the research you've been doing on Mary Magdalene's remains," Langdon replied without looking at her, "You certainly have some powerful friends, Sennett. The resources you can call on at short notice are quite astounding. I want to find out more."

Sennett felt a chill.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N – There is some cross-over with Dan Brown's book, 'Angels and Demons' from here on in terms of some of the characters. Vittoria is a direct borrowing from this novel. Also, if readers have read 'The Salvation of Silas', you will be familiar with my rather supernatural take on Christianity. If you are not Christian yourself or are a strictly rational Christian, suspend reality for the next couple of chapters and enjoy the ride. _

**Chapter Six**

_Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the __enemy__, and nothing shall by any means hurt you._

_Luke 10:19_

"What interest do you have in the DNA testing? I thought the Priory would be pulling this trick Robert, not you," Sennett said. She couldn't see much out of the car windows. It was the darkest time of night.

"Only certain members of the Priory know that the location of Magdalene's tomb has been compromised and most of them are now behind bars in Paris thanks to you. Apart from that, only two Priory members are aware of the DNA tests," Langdon said curtly.

"I didn't force them to break into the Louvre," Sennett snapped.

"Yes, you did! By interfering in things that are none of your business. What interest do you have in Magdalene's remains? Are you planning to publish an academic paper?" he hissed.

Sennett was frankly astonished. The idea had never occurred to her. She had done it to prove something to man whose faith and soul and state of mind was important to her. That was all.

"Of course not! As if I care what the world thinks about the Priory of Sion or any notions of the Merovingian line. No-one believes it anyway, Robert. The world thinks it's a myth and that the Priory was disbanded in 1967," Sennett said, still feeling groggy from the effects of the drug.

"They won't once I publish my book," Langdon said decisively, "And I'm going to publish it, Sennett. I won't let your DNA testing stand in my way, do you understand?"

"You're going to publish something that you now know for sure is false?" Sennett said with amazement, "Don't you have any academic integrity at all?"

"Sennett, be realistic. The money to be made from this far outweighs the considerations of one DNA test. The world will be fascinated, it will provoke endless debates, the churches will go to a media war over it, TV series will be spawned, my book will be a best seller and I will make history!" Robert said, his dark eyes gleaming fanatically in the deep darkness just before dawn.

Sennett realised just what was at stake for Langdon. It wasn't about the truth, it was about fame and money. It was far more serious than she realised.

Suddenly she noticed that they were pulling up outside a private house.

"This belongs to a Priory member who is away and is letting me use their home as a base for research. You won't get hurt as long as you're honest with me and you cooperate," Langdon said, "I have a gun, so don't try and run for it."

As they got out of the car in the dark, Sennett slipped off her wedding ring and put it in her trouser pocket. She didn't want Langdon to know she was now married in case he started sniffing around and asking questions about who her new husband was.

Sennett led the way into the house with Langdon at her heels and waited while Langdon unlocked the door.

Once inside, Sennett realised they were not alone. A dark haired and very attractive woman was waiting for them.

"Sennett, this is Vittoria. Vittoria, this is Sennett, the academic I was telling you about," Langdon said.

"She's very pretty for an academic," Vittoria noted with amusement.

"So are you, my dear," Langdon said ironically.

"I'll put the kettle on and make us a hot drink. I'm sure Sennett could use one," Vittoria said.

Sennett knew who Vittoria was. She was an antimatter researcher who worked at CERN. Her specialties were biology and physics, and she was as sharp as a knife. She wondered idly how Vittoria and Langdon had met but the world of academia in Europe was quite small, so it wasn't that surprising that they knew each other.

"Are you going to grill poor Sennett now?" Vittoria asked after the tea was made and poured.

"I already know most of what I want to know," Langdon said with a shrug, "Of course, she is not going to tell me how she managed to mobilise the Louvre guards because she will protect her contacts. The really important question is how to keep her quiet. The Lamberts already seem to be under the impression that the Priory will be dissolved now that it's been proven the Merovingian line is a fake. They could be taken care of or bought off, most likely the latter. However, Sennett is an unknown quantity," Langdon said, his dark eyes resting with chilling calculation on Sennett's face.

"It's a risk just to kill her, Robert," Vittoria said, a note of warning in her voice.

"No, she can't just disappear," he agreed, "And we don't have the phenomenal resources of Opus Dei to create realistic looking 'accidents'," he added meaningfully.

"Not to mention trained assassins," Vittoria added with a tinkling laugh.

Sennett was beginning to wonder if they were both mad.

"Does Sophie know that she's not really Princess Sophie?" Sennett asked.

Langdon and Vittoria stopped their conversation dead and stared at her.

"What has Sophie got to do with this?" Vittoria asked brittlely.

Sennett realised in flash that Vittoria was jealous of Sophie.

"I just explained that we want to keep this secret. That's why we're debating what to do with you," Langdon said, as though she was very dense, "That includes keeping it secret from Sophie."

"I suppose she won't be very convincing as Christ's heir apparent if she doesn't believe she is," Sennett said thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Langdon said.

"We need to check on the situation in Paris now that dawn has broken," Vittoria said, looking out of the kitchen window, "We won't be able to make any decisions about Sennett today."

"You're right," Langdon said, "Sorry Sennett."

And before Sennett realized what Langdon was doing, he had pulled out something similar to an epi pen and injected her in the arm with more of the same drug he had used before to bring her there. In seconds, darkness had fallen over her consciousness.

**[Sunday morning]**

The drugs affected her strangely this time. They paralysed her body but her mind drifted in and out of semi-consciousness.

Sennett was dreaming and in her dream she was praying prayers she had prayed a thousand times before.

_Lord, place on me the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, the shoes of peace. Place in my hands the sword of your Word and the shield of faith._

_Place a seal of the blood of the lamb the Lord Jesus Christ over me and over all the land you have given me. Send the Holy Spirit to guide my prayers. Hedge me round with your protection and send your guardian warrior angels to defend me. _

_In the name and by the blood of the Lamb the Lord Jesus Christ I bind all the evil spirits in Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra that are using them as their vessels to attack me. I pray the Holy Spirit reveals their names to me._

The names, as always, came thick and fast…

_Evil spirits of Greed, Avarice, Violence, Desperation, Hunger for Power, Hunger for Fame, Anger, Insecurity, Pride, Vanity, Worldliness, Lies, Bullying, Murder, Manipulation, Idolatry, Craving, Ruthlessness and Envy – I come against you in the name and by the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. I rebuke you, I bind you and I declare to you that you will remain bound until the time when the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob chooses to deal with you and sends you to the place He has allotted for you. I make this prayer in the name and by the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ._

Sennett drifted back into full unconsciousness for a time but gradually, she became aware of a starkly vivid dream. A corner of her mind recognised it was a symbolic dream – one that would have a message for her. She had had them many times before.

She was on a vast medieval battleground. The sky was dark, heavy with storm clouds and thick, greasy smoke. There was little light except for the large iron braziers that burned intermittedly on the vast, dusty plain.

In the centre of this flat, bleak battlefield that stretched to every horizon was a massive stone fortress. Runners from the field of battle were coming in with reports constantly but the news was never particularly good. There were a lot of casualties. The battle dragged on and on with never any sign of resolution or progress. The pointlessness and waste of it all dragged at Sennett's soul like an iron weight.

Sennett had been doing battle with a terrible enemy who had taken a great deal from her in the course of the battle. This enemy was ruthless and cruel, and cared nothing at all for Sennett's life. But this enemy had been badly wounded and the only one who could now save his life was Sennett. She had to give him a blood transfusion and she didn't want to.

She did, in the end, because she knew it was the right thing to do. It felt like dying – not physically, but in her spirit.

Sennett drifted away from the dream but she knew she still had one last thing she had to do; she had to forgive Langdon and Vittoria as an act of will and pray for them.

It felt like dying.

_Lord, in the name and by the blood of the Lamb the Lord Jesus Christ I choose to forgive Robert and Vittoria for kidnapping me and threatening my life. I pray You show them mercy and I pray blessing into their lives. Just as you have been merciful to forgive me and welcome me in Your Kingdom, I pray you will do the same for Robert and Vittoria and lavish the same love and blessing into their lives as you have into my own. _

Sennett elaborated on the blessings to be poured into their lives but the words came as heavily as lead as she prayed them. Why was it so hard to pray for one's enemies? It was like giving your own blood. Jesus made it look so easy in the Bible. Nearly dead from torture, He was able to pray for his enemies. Sennett always struggled with it. Finally it was over and with relief, she let her mind drift back into blackness again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

_And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him._

_Revelation 12:7-9_

Just before the drugs wore off, Sennett had the final dream that she was to remember vividly for the rest of her life. It was only short but it was so clear and so startling that it would fill her with wonder every time she thought of it.

She saw a strange figure in the room where she and Langdon and Vittoria had sat drinking tea. He was sweeping the floor. He looked like a man but the proportions were all wrong. His arms were far too long and muscular, his neck was too short and thick, his black hair too coarse, his torso too long and his shoulders were mis-shapen as though he had some sort of hump on his back or his spine was bent awkwardly. His skin was a strange, muddy, greenish grey and Sennett couldn't see his face because in the dream, he always had his back to her. There was something deeply disturbing about the figure, some atmosphere of repressed violence and unreasoning, unfathomable hatred. The malice was so thick in the room, you could choke on it.

Suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, the room was full of gold light. The thing was no longer standing upright but was laid out on the floor on its belly. The most extraordinary looking creature Sennett had ever seen was standing over it. She knew who it was instantly. She had seen him before in his human form in another dream. Somehow Sennett knew he had his foot on the thing's neck although later, Sennett could never recall ever seeing anything that resembled a human foot. The thing on the floor was writhing and spitting and hissing and making the most extraordinarily awful noises but Michael the Archangel wasn't disturbed by it. Sennett could see the thing could no more move from where it was pinned than a small lizard could move if the Rock of Gibraltar was holding it down.

Sennett could look Michael right in the face. She had never seen a face like it. She had never seen _anything_ like it. He didn't look human; he was in his angelic form.

When Sennett thought about it much later, she realised that his face looked rather like the features you saw in some Russian icons. The shape of his face and his nose was very narrow and fine, far too fine to be human and yet it was exquisitely beautiful. He had very large, black, slanted, almond shaped eyes with high cheekbones. It was the eyes that captured her. They were eyes that had never known defeat – that could not know defeat. They burned right through her. His skin was odd too. It was olive, like human skin but had a goldish tint. It wasn't shiny and it didn't glow with light but it was definitely a warm, dark gold colour.

He didn't have wings either but she could understand why people who had seen him in the past may have described him or drawn him that way. He was surrounded with rays of gold light. Not brilliant, bright yellow light but true gold. It seemed to shoot up around him and surround him in rays so that you couldn't really see the lower half of his body at all (if angels could be said to have bodies in their angelic form).

For the first time, Sennett really and truly comprehended that angels were a totally different creation to humans. There were some people who believed that humans could become angels in the next life. Any quick reading of the Bible would put paid to that notion, however. Now Sennett understood that they were not just a different creation but a totally different nature altogether. There was nothing human in Michael's expression, nothing that Sennett could relate to. Michael looked back at her in her dream without a trace of human curiousity or emotion. Sennett could see that angels had no real curiousity about humans at all, probably because they already knew and understood humans all too well. They were focused solely on God's will and God's work, nothing else interested them. She realised just how much angels had to transform themselves in order to appear human upon occasion. No wonder it was the expression in their eyes that tended to give them away in the end. How could a nature so different hope to imitate the human?

Something about seeing Michael and looking into his eyes made Sennett feel deeply peaceful. How could evil prevail in the face of that? She didn't know how things would work out, but there had been a victory in the heavenlies and if God had sent in the General of His Heavenly Hosts – the Archangel Michael himself, there wasn't much more to worry about. It may take awhile for the victory to work itself out in circumstances here on earth but work itself out, it would.

When Sennett opened her eyes, she found herself staring into a pair of familiar pale blue ones burning with a strange light; a dangerous light that she hadn't seen there for a long time.

* * *

Silas arrived in Roslin at around 6am while it was still dark. He had driven like a maniac wherever possible and made up a good hour on Langdon's travel time. However, now that he was there, he had no idea where in the village Sennett was. There were only a few hundred houses in Roslin but how did he narrow down where Sennett was likely to be?

He ruled out Rosslyn Chapel for the time being as the early morning service would start soon and the Priory would obviously not want to be there at the same time.

He decided to start with Sophie's grandmother's house. He had been to Marie Chauvel's home once before to take hairs from Sophie's head as she slept for the DNA test that had unraveled his universe.

Carefully he checked the two cars parked in the driveway. Neither would have tyres that would match the tread of the tyre tracks Silas had found near their home in Berne. They had not been driven recently either; their engines were stone cold.

Still, it was better to check. Sennett may have been left there by her kidnapper while the car was taken elsewhere to avert suspicion. Silently as a big cat, Silas crept up to windows and looked into each one. Cautiously he ran his penlight torch over the objects in the room. Sophie was asleep in her bed in one room and Marie was asleep in her bed in another. Otherwise, the house appeared unoccupied and peaceful. Sennett was not there. More to the point, neither Sophie nor Marie seemed to be aware that Sennett was in Roslin at all.

Perhaps not all members of the Priory were involved then?

Silas was beginning to get desperate. Every second that ticked by increased the likelihood of Sennett getting hurt or worse. He crept silently back to the Land Rover which was parked behind a clump of trees in a nearby park. He took the print out of Sennett's address book from his backpack, hoping for a lead.

Langdon! He wasn't Priory but he knew all the Priory people. Perhaps he could suggest who to contact or where to go next. As far as Silas knew, Langdon had no personal investment in the Priory myths. He didn't have to tell Langdon who he was. If necessary, he'd lie and say he was the Police.

Just before he dialed the number, he suddenly noticed that Langdon's address was now in Roslin itself. Silas' old assassin's instincts suddenly kicked in again and he felt his skin prickle. Here was another anomaly; something that didn't make sense. Why would an academic whose work was based at Harvard University suddenly move to a small Scottish village that didn't even have a University? Even if his relationship with Sophie Neveu had progressed significantly and she had to live in Roslin because of the Priory, he would have simply visited her now and then. His work would have kept him at Harvard. Why the move to Roslin? It just didn't make sense.

Dawn was breaking now and he would have to keep his hood up in order not to be seen. Langdon would recognise him at a glance and so would Sophie.

Following the instincts that had kept him alive so many times, Silas took the knife from his backpack, looked up Langdon's address on the map of the area he'd brought with him and drove it to three blocks away from the house. He let it roll silently down the road with the engine off until it pulled to a halt alongside Langdon's house.

Although the sun was coming up, the dawn light was weak. Lights shone in a couple of rooms towards the back of Langdon's house which was like a beacon in a street full of still unlit houses. Silas' conviction was growing stronger by the second that this was the right place.

Staying low to the ground, he ran up to the house. He circled it, trying to locate which room Langdon was in.

"Where is she?" a woman's voice asked. It wasn't Sennett.

"I've put her in the spare room. I'll have to decide what to do with her later. I've got other more urgent things to take care of right now," Langdon said irritably.

Silas literally felt his heart stop and his blood drain from his face and his extremities. He was numb and could not feel his limbs. In fact, his whole body suddenly felt oddly deadened and disconnected. It was surreal, like one of those awful dreams when you need to run but your feet are stuck to the ground.

His white hands trembled as they felt their way along the side of the house to the next window, away from the nightmarish voices. Cautiously he raised his hooded head and looked over the sill. The room was empty. His legs were shaking now and he willed them to stop as he moved to the next window. Again, he looked over the sill.

On the bed right under the window was a small bundle with dark hair facing away from him. It was Sennett. He couldn't tell in the half light whether she was breathing. Fortunately the door to the room was closed. They had obviously locked her in. The window was locked too but it only took Silas a few seconds with his knife to force the locks and let himself silently in.

He almost fell down next to her and with violently shaking hands, he pressed fingers to her jugular. He could feel a strong heartbeat. It was at that moment that the steel band around his heart and chest broke, and his heart started again. Reality slowly came back into focus and the nightmarish haze that had descended over him dissipated.

Just then, Sennett opened her dark eyes and looked right at him and smiled.

"Can you get up?" he whispered hoarsely, putting one white hand gently on her dark hair.

Sennett tried. Yes, she could sit up. Cautiously she got up from the bed and tried her legs.

"I'm going to get out of the window so I can help you out. Then we both have to make a run for the Land Rover parked on the road. Duck down below window level as you run," he whispered.

With the agile grace of a gymnast, Silas ducked back out of the low window and then turned to help Sennett. Being small, it was easy for her to wriggle out of the window and drop lightly to the ground.

Holding hands, they made a run for it but the Land Rover was just far enough away for Langdon to spot them through the kitchen window and he was after them immediately.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

_When they persecute you in this city, __flee__ to another._

_Matt 10:23_

Sennett could see Langdon had a gun and she gasped.

"Get in the car, Sennett," Silas commanded harshly, his eyes turned to ice once again.

Silas turned and as he did, his hood fell back, exposing his white head. Langdon and Silas locked eyes for a split second before Silas turned again and got into the car.

Langdon hesitated for a reason that he could never explain to himself later. That second was the crucial moment where he could have stopped them by shooting and wounding Silas or blowing out one of their car tyres.

Even if he had run to his own car, he could have tailed them and run them to ground but something held him back.

When he tried to explain it to Vittoria later, he struggled for words.

"It was like the fire had gone out of me all of a sudden," he said with confusion, "I couldn't remember why it was so important anymore. It didn't seem worth fighting for – certainly not worth killing for. Suddenly, it just didn't seem to matter."

Vittoria stared at him incredulously, like he was suddenly a stranger.

That night, Sennett would dream of a silver skinned demon bound tightly to a chair with a gag over its mouth struggling fruitlessly to get free, enraged at its bonds. Sennett knew it belonged to Langdon.

Once again, Silas drove like a maniac to get away from Roslin, convinced that Langdon would follow them. Sennett kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. She didn't recognise this Silas. He was cold and hard as steel, his movements precise and robotic. The fanatical gleam she remembered from the very early days after he had been shot lit up his colourless eyes strangely. Frankly, he was frightening. The vulnerability and humility that had so attracted Sennett to him was submerged in this new person she had never really seen before. She didn't like it.

He carried tension in very line of his slender frame and it poured out of him, filling the space around him.

"He's not following us," Silas said finally in his deep voice, almost to himself, "I don't understand why. I was sure he would."

"Perhaps he's lost interest," Sennett said calmly.

Silas stared at her as though she had said something preposterous.

"He kidnapped you and was threatening your life! I overhead him saying that he hadn't decided what to do with you. Do you know what that means? It means he was thinking about killing you!" Silas said harshly.

"Yes, but I think he changed his mind," Sennett said mildly.

Silas kept glancing at her out of incredulous pale eyes, looking half mad himself.

"I'm not taking you back to Berne. We have to hide out somewhere else for awhile," he finally muttered.

"Let's go to my flat in London. Langdon doesn't have my address there, so we'll be safe for a day or so while we make other arrangements," Sennett suggested.

Silas thought that was the first sensible thing she'd said.

They drove in silence for awhile.

"Where is your ring?" Silas suddenly said, his voice so urgent that it made Sennett jump.

"Oh, it's here," she said and fished it out of her trouser pocket and put it on, "I took it off in Langdon's car when it was still dark before he saw it. I didn't want him to know I was married. If he wanted to kill me, he might make investigations about my husband and I thought it might lead him one day back to you."

Silas was silent. Had Sennett really been worrying about his life at a time like that? She should have been worrying only about her own life. No-one had ever worried about his life before now. Not only was she the first person in his life to truly care what happened to him but she cared at a time when she was in true mortal danger. Her first thoughts were for his safety, not her own. His throat felt very tight, all of a sudden and his eyes burned.

"He saw me. Langdon recognised me," Silas said after a long pause in a low voice.

Sennett gasped.

"I suppose that was going to unavoidable seeing as he caught us escaping," Sennett said, "Damn it!" she added angrily.

Silas glanced at her incredulously again. He'd rarely, if ever, seen Sennett angry. It made him feel shocked and a bit off balance.

"We'll have to go back to Switzerland. It's the only really safe place for you. You must be in a place with no extradition," Sennett said urgently.

"We can't go back to the farm now. Langdon knows where to find you there," Silas argued, his voice rough with worry.

"We'll go to my flat today and I'll see if I can borrow Diggory's computer for a few hours to make some other arrangements for when we get back into Switzerland," Sennett said, thinking out loud and biting her lip.

* * *

Silas drove insanely the entire way to London, except when the traffic slowed him down. They parked the Land Rover in public parking and went straight to Sennett's flat on the same street. Silas let them in with the full set of keys he had brought with them.

Sennett looked around the flat. It looked the same, except that the personal items had gone. The books and pictures and everything else that gave a home character was gone. Just the bare furniture remained. Still, it contained so many memories of herself and Silas when they first met that it made Sennett smile just to think of it.

"Do you remember the first time you tried to watch TV?" Sennett asked suddenly and laughed, "I'll never forget coming home from work and seeing the look on your face. You literally could not believe your eyes."

"I still don't like it," Silas muttered, hanging his white head and staring at the floor, his eyes burning with remembered horror.

Suddenly, the cold-eyed robot in the car was gone and her Silas was standing before her again.

Sennett walked over to him and put her hands on either side of his pale face.

"Thank you for coming and rescuing me from Langdon," she said, suddenly serious, "I have no idea how you knew where I was or how you got there so fast but I was so glad to see you," she added, her dark eyes suddenly swimming in tears.

Silas opened his mouth to say something in reply but nothing came out. He couldn't remember if he'd ever seen Sennett cry. He just stared at her, feeling shocked. He wanted to tell her not to cry but he couldn't get the words out. Her tears agitated him. He felt like he was falling into the darkness of her eyes.

He was saved the trouble when Sennett put her arms around his neck and lifted her face to his for his kiss. It a split second, all the anxiety he had felt for the past 24 hours came rushing back with the force of a speeding train and took the form of a sudden, blistering passion. He held her so tightly that Sennett was afraid she had been rescued from Langdon only to be crushed to death by her own husband. It reminded her of Silas' first attempts at hugs which had been bone-crushing experiences. She would have told Silas not to hold her so tightly, if he had stopped kissing her for half a second.

But she hadn't been married to him for a few months not to have learned a few tricks. He had sensitive spots. Gently she curled her fingers along the nape of his neck, caressing the moonlight pale, fine hair. He lifted his mouth from hers just long enough to gasp slightly and she said,

"I need to breathe, Silas!"

Immediately he let go of her, his face flushing red with shame.

"I didn't say stop, just let me breathe," Sennett said with a laugh, pressing her form against him and placing a kiss in another sensitive spot, the hollow between his throat and his jaw.

Silas simply scooped her up in his arms and carried her through to her old bedroom.

* * *

**[Sunday afternoon]**

Sophie Neveu answered the door at her grandmother's home expecting to see Langdon there. She hadn't seen him for a few days which was strange. He had also been evasive when she'd rung him. She had put it down to him being absorbed in his research but something about his sudden elusiveness niggled at the back of her mind.

She was surprised therefore, to see Jean and Louise Lambert standing on the doorstep. She invited them in, curious as to why the Priory members had visited. She usually only saw them at meetings at Rosslyn Chapel.

She ushered them through to the kitchen and put on the kettle to make tea.

"How can I help you?" Sophie asked, her large brown eyes resting on their suddenly nervous faces with a kind expression.

"We wanted to show you this," Jean said abruptly and thrust a copy of the DNA results across the table.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

_Let no one deceive you by any means_

_2 Thessalonians 2:3_

Sophie poured the tea before she picked up the paper but once she had, she gave it her full attention. She got a shock when she saw her own name on the DNA test results.

""How did they get my DNA?" Sophie asked, her eyes wide. Sophie looked at Jean and Louise, her dark eyes asking for an explanation for the piece of paper now in front of her.

"It would be easy enough," Jean said with a shrug, "All they would have to do is break into your house and steal some hair from your hairbrush or easier yet, pick up some hairs from your jacket."

"I know Sennett Langlois," Sophie said, "I met her once. Langdon introduced us. She worked as a Tutor and Researcher at Oxford but I think Robert mentioned she recently moved to Berne University. Her field of expertise includes ancient and medieval history, linguistics, ancient texts and some Theology. Why did she want this test?" Sophie asked, frowning and shaking her head in confusion.

"The ancient remains were from Mary Magdalene's tomb," Jean said flatly, "A Priory member found her there just before these tests were ordered. Because she checked out with Langdon, he let her go but of course, he didn't realise she had taken samples from the tomb."

Sophie was silent for a long time as the information sank in, her dark eyes wide at the implications of Jean's new information.

She re-read the report more slowly.

"So, I am not Princess Sophie at all," she finally said, her expression shrewd but not disappointed, "This so-called 'grail' that the Priory protects is a lie."

"So it turns out," Louise said bitterly, the first thing she had said.

Sophie looked at her consideringly.

"You believed it was true, didn't you?" she said gently.

"Of course, we did. We based our whole lives on it! Now it turns out that the church was right all along," Louise said, her mouth twisted in disappointment.

"It makes no difference to me," Sophie admitted philosophically, "I lived most of my life believing I was a normal person, not the descendent of some divine figure, so it does not hurt me to go back to being a normal person again. I am content to go back to my life in France as a National Police cryptographer."

"For us it isn't so simple," Jean said, "Our lives were built around the principles of the Feminine Divine. The meaning of our entire adult life has been wiped away and we have to start searching for the truth again from nothing."

Sophie looked at them both sadly.

"I believe you will find it," she said suddenly, reaching out and touching Jean's arm encouragingly.

"That isn't all, Sophie," Jean said reaching into his coat pocket, "Langdon has been up to something in the past few days. We gave him the DNA results first. We wanted his advice. We thought the first thing he'd do is tell the Priory, but he hasn't told anyone. Since we told him, we've been keeping an eye on him and he's been up to some very strange business."

"Langdon has known about these test results for a few days?" Sophie said, suddenly frowning, "He knew that I wasn't really a descendent of Christ and Mary Magdalene, but he hasn't told me?"

"He hasn't told anyone. Well, except maybe for this woman. Do you know who she is, Sophie?" Jean asked, pushing a clear photo of Vittoria across the table to Sophie that Jean had taken with a strong telephoto lens.

"No," Sophie said hesitantly, "But I can find out."

"There's another one too," Jean said and gave Sophie a clear shot of Sennett escaping with Silas. Sennett's face was clear but Silas' face was completely covered by the hood.

"The woman is Sennett. You don't have one where you can see this man's face?" Sophie asked.

"No, he kept his hood up the whole time except for just a second or two when it fell down. I never really saw him at all," Jean said.

Sophie wasn't really interested in Sennett's companion. What she wanted to know was why Langdon had been keeping this DNA report information from her.

She took the photos, got up and went through to the living room where there was a desk with some fairly sophisticated computer equipment. The computer was already on. Quickly she scanned the photos on a high resolution scanner and emailed them to a former colleague at the National Police.

"This won't take long," Sophie said, going through to make them all another cup of tea.

* * *

About half an hour later, the results came back from the National Police database.

The first photo of the woman on her own was of Vittoria Vetra, a CERN biologist and physicist. She had no criminal history.

The second photo was confirmed to be of Sennett Langlois. Again, she had no criminal history.

"What is Vittoria's connection with Langdon?" Sophie asked Jean and Louise.

Jean and Louise exchanged a look.

"Vittoria has been staying with Langdon for the past few days but we've seen her there before. I think she's an old girlfriend of his, Sophie," Louise said sympathetically.

Louise knew that Langdon and Sophie had been involved and as far as Sophie knew, still were. It was reckless for Langdon to bring Vittoria to Roslin. He must have known Sophie would find out. He needed Sophie for all his grand plans for work out but he had needed Vittoria in the short term for the dirty work he'd done the previous day.

Sophie's mouth tightened and she looked at the table but she didn't comment on what they said.

"What is this hooded man doing in the photo with Sennett?" Sophie asked, changing the subject.

"He is actually rescuing her. Just after I took this shot, Langdon came out of the house with a gun. Here is another photo," Jean pushed a photo of Sennett, the hooded man and Langdon holding a gun across the table to Sophie. Sophie's head reeled.

"Langdon had brought her to house against her will. He marched her in with a gun pointed at her back, I could just see it in the light coming from the doorway," Jean said.

"How could you see it?" Sophie asked faintly, still recovering from the shock of seeing what was unmistakably Langdon pointing a gun at two unarmed people.

"High powered binoculars," Jean replied, "I have been watching the house since he took the DNA results. There was something strange about the fact that he wouldn't say what he was going to do next. I didn't like it. He was behaving oddly."

"Oddly is an understatement," Sophie murmured, "He's gone completely mad. I don't recognise him at all. Why is he doing this?"

Jean then explained what Langdon had said to him about his plans to publish a book about the Merovingian line and make a fortune.

"I knew about his plans for the book. I didn't know he had gone mad over it. The Priory need to be told," Sophie said flatly, "Can you arrange a gathering by tonight?" she asked them.

"Yes," Jean replied.

**[Sunday night]**

That night, Sophie didn't wear her ceremonial robes. She would never wear them again. One part of her wanted to burn them. Another part of her wanted to make a museum of the Priory artifacts. After all, they were part of history albeit a false history. It was a clever false history; one might argue a brilliant one. It was romantic, plausible, gallant – one wanted to believe it.

But it wasn't true and it was time to let it go.

She had made copies of the DNA results, enough for one copy between two Priory members.

From the beginning, she told them everything that Jean and Louise had told her. Jean and Louise verified the story, giving names and dates where necessary of other witnesses such as the Priory member who had seen Sennett in the tomb.

"So, there is no Merovingian line. There is no Princess Sophie and consequently, there really is no need for a Priory of Sion. The Holy Grail, if there is one, is not me. I need no loyal knights to protect me. I can go back to my old life and you can seek the real truth about the Divine," Sophie said finally.

"How can you be sure that these really are your genes that they tested, Sophie?" a young Priory member asked seriously.

"I'm pretty sure that Sennett is smart enough to have got it right but I'm going to try to speak to her in person over the next few days to make sure. Once I have, I'll come back to Roslin and speak to you all again," Sophie replied.

Marie Cheuval, Sophie's grandmother, stared tragically at Sophie. Her life had been built, like Jean and Louise's, on the mysteries of the feminine divine and the mission of the Priory to protect the Grail. Now, at the end of her life, when she thought all she held dearest was about to be realised, it was wiped away.

"Cheer up, grandmother. I may not be the Holy Grail or have blue blood but I'll always be your Sophie," she said, holding out her hand to Marie.

With tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks, Marie stepped forward and embraced her grand daughter. Her Sophie was enough.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

_Ask, and it will be given to you; __seek__, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you._

_Matt 7:7_

**[Monday morning]**

It was the next morning before Sennett knocked on Diggory's door and asked his wife if she would be able to use their computer for an hour or so as her own laptop was in Berne.

"Oh sure, no problem. Now would be the best time, actually. Diggory has already gone off to the hospital and the kids are at school. I'm not using it at the moment, so you're welcome," she said.

She showed Sennett where the computer was set up and checked that the internet was logged on and left her to her own devices.

The first thing Sennett did was email Berne University and let them know she would be away for the rest of the week and said it was 'urgent and unexpected family business'.

Then she emailed the farm owner for Silas using Silas' account. Unfortunately, they had decided over breakfast that Silas would have to leave his job on the farm. They had also decided to be honest as to the reasons why as they liked the farm owner and trusted him.

_Dear Rudolf_

_It is with regret that I have to resign my apprenticeship at your farm, effective immediately. I am forced to do so due to circumstances outside my control. A dangerous person from my past has discovered where I now live and work, and both my life and my wife's life are in danger. Thank you for all the opportunities you have given me in the short time I have worked for you. I wish I could continue to do so._

_I will make arrangements for our personal belongings to be removed from your property before the end of the week. Please thank Gunter for me for supervising my apprenticeship._

_Warm regards,_

_Silas_

It would not be hard for Silas to find another apprenticeship in the same district but it was a shame to leave people who were so kind and honest. Silas had been genuinely happy there.

Next, Sennett booked them into the Kreuz Swiss Hotel in Berne for a few nights so they could use it as a base while they looked for other accommodation.

Lastly, Sennett made arrangements with a security firm to have armed guards meet them at the farm while they packed their belongings. She also made arrangements for a removalist to be there at the same time.

Sennett also had an email from her friend, Christine. Her great uncle had died at 3am Sunday morning.

* * *

The same morning, Sennett had gone out and bought them both a couple of changes of clothes and some toiletries as they wouldn't have their belongings from the farm for a couple of days and they'd already been in their current set of clothes for nearly two days. They changed before they left London.

They were on the road again by lunchtime and would make it into Berne by 8 or 9pm.

**[Monday night]**

Sophie also made it to Berne that same evening, having left Roslin that morning and taken a couple of rest stops along the way. Her colleague at the French National Police had hacked into Berne University's computer system and given her Sennett's home address at Rudolf's farm.

Sophie checked into the Sorell Ador Hotel. She would visit Sennett tomorrow.

* * *

**[Tuesday morning]**

Early in the morning, Sophie set out for the farm. The workers cottage was locked up and obviously no-one was home. She was tempted to go to the main farm house and ask when Sennett was expected back but she didn't want to give Sennett any fore-warning that she was coming. She decided to come back late that afternoon again. Sennett may be back at the University and not home until late.

* * *

Using the hotel computer, Sennett checked her email account. There was an acknowledgment from Berne University, so all was well there. There was also an interesting response to the email she'd send on Silas' behalf to Rudolf, the farm owner. He seemed very sorry to lose Silas, not surprising considering how hard Silas worked and his natural talent with animals. On the other hand, he had a brother-in-law with a dairy farm in the same district and he was looking for an apprentice. Was Silas interested? Rudolf was happy to recommend him. Rudolf seemed to assume that Silas was in some kind of witness protection program which Sennett was happy to let him go on believing.

She would speak to Silas before replying but she was pretty sure Silas would at least go and look at the farm and speak to Rudolf's brother-in-law in the first instance. If this farm was comparable to Rudolf's, it was one problem taken care of very quickly and neatly.

That afternoon, they drove over to Rudolf's farm and met the security guards and removalists. Sennett had hired some extra people from the removalist firm to help with the packing so that it got done very quickly. She and Silas packed their personal belongings while the removalists took care of the kitchen, lounge, dining room and bathroom.

Because the house came furnished, it was not a large job and it was done within a couple of hours.

Silas took the key back up to the main farmhouse with one of the security guards while Sennett waited at the farmhouse with the other guard and the removalists.

Finally, they were ready to go. Sennett said a reluctant good-bye to the home where she had been so happy but she knew she was taking her happiness with her. So long as she and Silas were together, they would be fine.

They dropped most of their belongings in at a storage place in Berne and went back to the Hotel.

"I spoke to Rudolf about his brother-in-law's farm. His name is Hans and Rudolf said he runs his dairy herds along similar lines to himself, so the work with the cattle would be the same. He also said that Hans would continue my study, as he does with all his apprentices. I want to look at the farm first, though. Rudolf is going to set up a time this week," Silas said, his long pale fingers fiddling with the ties at the bottom of his pull over.

"I'm sorry you're having to start all over again in a new place," Sennett said regretfully, "I had no idea the Priory had tentacles at the DNA Laboratory."

Silas' head jerked up and he stared at her. He didn't think any of this was Sennett's fault. She was the victim, not the perpetrator.

"You did those tests to help me," Silas said, his voice sounding gravelly, "Because people had lied to me and you wanted to show me the truth. I'm the one who is sorry. Sorry I was stupid enough to believe what I was told without question," he added in a whisper, his pale mouth twisting bitterly, "Its cost you so much now."

"It hasn't cost me anything, just a bit of a fright," Sennett said matter of factly with a wry smile, "And you're not stupid and you never have been stupid. People that you loved traded on your trust and abused it, that's all," she added, taking one of the restless hands.

Silas didn't look at her but he held on to her hand.

**[Tuesday afternoon]**

That afternoon Sophie drove back to the farm at twilight. This time, not only was the workers cottage locked up but it had clearly been cleared out since that morning. A quick glance through the front window where the curtains had been left drawn showed a furnished living room stripped of all the personal possessions.

Sophie stared with her lips parted. How could this have happened so quickly? Sennett and her hooded rescuer, if he was still with her, must only have gotten back to Berne a day or so before Sophie. How had they managed to engineer a move in such a short space of time?

Rapidly she went back to her car and put a call through to her colleague at the France National Police.

* * *

**[Wednesday]**

Sennett took the drive out to Hans' farm with Silas. Hans was keen to meet Silas as soon as possible as he wanted Silas to start the following week if he wanted the position. He had been short a good pair of hands for quite a while.

Sennett quite liked the look of the farm. Like Rudolf's property, it was very pretty. It was set on slightly steeper slopes and was higher up, so it would be a somewhat colder climate but it wasn't a great deal of difference.

Silas looked over the dairy herd and the cattle sheds and equipment. He discussed the terms of the apprenticeship with Jacque. It turned out that Jacque had two experienced Cowherds that could supervise Silas and he managed the farm himself.

Sennett stayed well out of earshot while all this discussion was going on. Silas knew what he was doing. She chatted to Hans' wife who she quite liked. They were around the same age; perhaps Francine was a few years older. Francine supervised the butter and cheese making which Sennett found quite fascinating. It was a whole business enterprise and craft on its own.

After a couple of hours, the men wondered back from the fields and dairy sheds and an agreement seemed to have been made. Jacque looked quite pleased and Sennett could tell from Silas' quiet expression that he was content.

It turned out that they would be moving their belongings into the workers cottage in the South field the next day.

* * *

Sophie made a visit to Berne University that morning, hoping to catch Sennett on the premises. The France National Police had been unable to give her any further leads on where Sennett's new address was.

She found her way to Sennett's office fairly quickly only to find a note taped to her door with a message that Sennett would be away until the end of the week.

Biting her lip and feeling thoroughly frustrated, Sophie left the University and headed back to her Hotel to wait until the following Monday. If any leads became available before then, she knew her colleague would let her know.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

_And you shall know the __truth__, and the __truth__ shall make you free_

_John 8:32_

**[Monday morning]**

One of the precautions Sennett took when she and Silas moved to the new workers cottage on Hans' farm was to register everything to a Post Office Box rather than a geographical address. Things like electricity were already connected under Hans' name, so there was no issue there. Even to the University, she now gave the Post Office Box number.

So it was not until the following Monday that Sophie finally tracked Sennett down.

When she came to unlock her office at 9am on Monday morning, she saw a very slender woman with dark hair and eyes standing just down the hall from her office door. It only took half a second for her to realise who it was.

"Sophie? Sophie Neveu?" Sennett said, feeling shocked.

"Yes, it's me. Robert introduced us a few months ago," Sophie said with a relieved expression. "May I have a word in private?" she said quickly.

Sophie assessed Sennett with the appreciative eye of a fellow French woman. Like herself, Sennett was a small brunette but her hair was darker - almost black and her eyes were dark green rather than brown. She was very pale, like someone who never went out in the sun. She exuded the kind of self-possession that came from wealth and she had the delicate prettiness of a ballet dancer.

"Yes, come in. I generally don't get any students through until after ten in the morning. They like to sleep in," Sennett said with a wry smile, "How can I help you?" Sennett asked, after Sophie had sat down in the chair opposite Sennett's desk and Sennett had put the kettle on.

"I just need to know that these results are genuine and that you did use my DNA," Sophie said, getting straight to the point and handing over a copy of the tests Sennett had done.

Sennett's eyes narrowed when she saw them.

"Those tests were never supposed to be made public," Sennett said flatly, "They were stolen from the laboratory, but yes – the DNA came from hair taken from your head."

"Are you going to press charges against Louise Lambert for taking a copy of the results?" Sophie asked with concern.

"I haven't decided yet. I believe the Police know she has gone to Roslin. At the moment, I'm not inclined to," Sennett replied neutrally.

"How was my DNA obtained?" Sophie asked.

"Sleeping drugs were put in thermos of hot drinks that were set out at a Priory gathering at Rosslyn Chapel one evening – not dangerous ones, just the kind you can get over the counter. Later that night, someone snuck into your bedroom at your grandmother's house and plucked out a sample of about twenty hairs while you were in a deep sleep," Sennett explained simply.

Sophie stared at Sennett.

"So simple," she said finally, "But there can be no doubt."

"No, there is no doubt."

Sophie didn't bother to ask who had been the person to drug the Priory members or break into her grandmother's house because she knew Sennett would protect them.

"What made you do it? If you weren't going to make the findings public or even known to the Priory, why go to such lengths?" Sophie asked curiously.

"There was someone who needed to know the truth about the Merovingian line for the sake of their own peace of mind - for the sake of their soul, really. That was the only reason," Sennett explained.

"You won't tell me who?" Sophie asked.

"No," Sennett replied calmly but firmly.

There was a long pause.

"Langdon kidnapped you," Sophie said finally.

Sennett looked at Sophie assessingly.

"How did you know that?" she asked.

"Jean Lambert is Louise's husband and also a Priory member. He gave a copy of the results to Langdon. He thought Langdon acted a bit strangely about it all, so he decided to keep an eye on him. Just as well he did. He managed to get photographic evidence of you being brought into Langdon's house at the end of a gun and then escaping with some guy in a hood with Langdon chasing you both with the same gun," Sophie explained matter of factly.

Sennett stared at Sophie.

"There are pictures of all this?" she whispered.

"Just a few but enough to prove to the Priory that Langdon has lost his mind," Sophie said.

"Do you understand why he kidnapped me?" Sennett asked carefully.

"Yes, he wants to prevent you publishing anything about the DNA results and ruining his chance of making a big splash with the Merovingian line story. He's certain he'll make a fortune," Sophie replied with a shrug.

"Does he know you're here?" Sennett asked with a sense of foreboding.

"No, of course not! I wanted to make sure that the test really was viable before I said anything further to the Priory. Now that I am sure, I will go back to Roslin and advise the Priory to dissolve for real this time. What can Langdon do if there is no Priory and no Princess Sophie? Without us to support his theories, he has no best seller. All of us would contradict anything he did try and publish about the Merovingian line now. His grand plans are dust," Sophie said frankly.

Sennett examined Sophie's beautiful face warily.

"Weren't you and Langdon seeing each other until very recently?" Sennett asked.

"Langdon is still involved with an old girlfriend of his, Vittoria Vetra," Sophie said, a trace of bitterness in her voice, "I don't think I'll be useful to him once he finds out he can't pass me off as Princess Sophie. I don't care to be made a fool of."

"Yes, I met Vittoria when I was taken to Langdon's house at Roslin. I didn't get much of an opportunity to talk to her, however. I'm sorry Langdon turned out to be such a heel," Sennett said.

"At least he hasn't pointed guns at me," Sophie said philosophically.

There was another pause in the conversation and Sennett got up to pour them both a cup of tea.

"Why weren't you going to tell me that I wasn't really Christ's descendent?" Sophie asked Sennett once they both had steaming cups in their hands.

"It wasn't about you," Sennett replied, "And why should I interfere in your life? The Priory knew where the tomb was. The real question is, why didn't the Priory run the tests as soon as they found you?" she asked incisively.

Sophie's eyes narrowed as she considered the question herself.

"I suppose there were always excuses made as to why it couldn't be done right away. Langdon always made a lot of noise about the fragile state of Mary Magdalene's remains and how they shouldn't be exposed to any light or air, not even long enough to take a sample. He said they needed to be moved to another location, a scientific laboratory, where samples could be taken safely without any danger of damage. I suppose the Priory believed him and it sounded plausible to even the scientific members of the Priory too. It made it seem like his first concern was the preservation of Mary's remains rather than his own selfish interests," Sophie replied thoughtfully, her mind going back over the events since she had met up with her grandmother again.

"Of course, moving Magdalena's remains from where they were at the Louvre would be just about impossible with all the security there," Sennett commented, "Which is rather convenient for Langdon and his ambitions."

"Naturally," Sophie said with a shrug but her expression was now tinged with sadness, "I would guess that once his book was a best seller and making him millions of dollars, somehow or another the remains would have simply disappeared from the Louvre when no-one was looking, never to be found again."

"And someone else would have been blamed, like Opus Dei for instance," Sennett concluded drily.

"So I would imagine," Sophie agreed. Suddenly she frowned, "Did you say, 'where they were' in regard to Magdalene's remains? Have they been moved from their spot in the Louvre?" Sophie asked.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

_For if you __forgive__ men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also __forgive__ you._

_Matt 6:14_

Sennett wondered how much she could trust Sophie. Could she trust her with the knowledge that Magdalene's remains had been moved? She supposed she would find out from Langdon sooner or later anyway.

"Yes, they have. They are in a much more secure location. Langdon and the Priory can no longer access them," Sennett replied cautiously.

"You can't tell me where?" Sophie asked curiously.

"I would rather not. The less people who know the better and it might endanger the life of the one person who knows how to access them should I tell you," Sennett replied.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I wouldn't be trying to find them, particularly now I have these DNA results. And you're right, its better I don't know. What I haven't been told, Langdon can't try and force me to tell him later. You have some powerful friends, to be able to get those remains moved so quickly," Sophie observed shrewdly.

"Just one or two in useful locations," Sennett said with a smile, "Will you really persuade the Priory to dissolve when you get back to Roslin?" she added curiously.

"The reason for their existence has gone. The Merovingian line is a fake. The documents and artifacts they have been guarding are forged. The only value those things have now is as a curiousity, a quirky addendum to history. It would make a good book - how some clever people with too much time on their hands can fool a lot of people who want to believe in romantic knighthoods, divine royal bloodlines and grail quests," Sophie said, almost tiredly, "Of course they must dissolve. Grown men and women can't go on playing pretend like children."

"What will you do?" Sennett asked gently.

"I will go back to my job at France National Police as a Cryptographer which I was very good at and enjoyed. My life will go on as before with only this strange interlude to reflect on now and then. It is a good life lesson. My grandparents were not stupid people but they were led to believe a lot of lies and they believed it because they wanted to believe it, because they were romantics and, I think, because they could not bear the authority of the Church," Sophie said broodingly.

"Authority doesn't have to be oppressive," Sennett commented.

"I saw some very strange things after my grandfather was killed by Opus Dei. I saw a very dark side to the Church. I saw men willing to kill to destroy the evidence of this 'grail' which turned out to be just a lie anyway. I saw a monk who would have been happy to kill me. He told me that every breath I took was a sin. I'll never forget him. He was mad. He was the one who killed my grandfather. If he hadn't been tied up like an animal, he would have killed me too. I could see it in his weird colourless eyes. That's what the authority of the Church can do to some people. It can turn them into animals," Sophie said pensively.

Sennett stared at Sophie's downbent head. She knew Sophie was describing Silas. She supposed there were times she had looked into Silas' eyes and thought he looked rather mad but unlike Sophie, Sennett could always feel the bottomless anguish, grief and confusion behind the mad stare. It always broke her heart and it made it impossible for her to be afraid of him. It would be like being afraid of a wounded animal – probably wise, but impossible. The impulse to help over-rode the fear.

"I wouldn't describe Opus Dei as the mainstream Church," Sennett said mildly.

"No, they are fanatics," Sophie agreed.

"When are you heading back to Roslin?" Sennett asked.

"Tonight, now that I've spoken to you," Sophie replied.

"Can you meet me at lunchtime at the Church of the Holy Trinity?" Sennett asked.

Sophie looked surprised.

"Yes, there is not reason why not. I don't have any other plans," she said.

"Good, there is someone I want you to meet," Sennett said.

* * *

Sennett had never rung Silas from the University before, so the minute he answered his mobile phone and realised Sennett was on the other end, his heart began to pound in fear. They had only just gotten back from Roslin a few days ago and were still settling in to Hans' farm. His last scare had been too close in time for him to have recovered any sense stability or perspective, not that either of those things were his strong points.

"Hi Silas, can you take a couple of hours in the middle of the day and come up to see me at the Church of the Holy Trinity? There is someone I want you to meet," she said cheerfully enough.

Silas' heart began to slow down again. The farm workers usually took a long break in the middle of the day because they got up so early to see to the animals. He would not be missed.

"Okay," he said hesitantly, "What time?"

"I'll meet you on the front steps at 12.30pm. See you then," Sennett replied and then hung up before he could ask any questions.

As Silas wasn't one to ask many questions in those circumstances anyway, he wasn't too perturbed.

* * *

At 12.30pm, he was waiting in a shady spot on the front steps when he saw Sennett come out of the front doors. She came up, gave him a quick kiss and took his hand.

"Come on, there is someone I want you to see," she said.

Silas, still unused to being touched particularly in public, followed her a bit awkwardly blinking as he entered the dim interior.

Carefully he crossed himself at the font as his eyes adjusted and then followed Sennett down the long aisle and then off to one side.

Behind a large column sat a familiar figure. Silas' eyes dilated. He wanted to run. Sophie Neveu was someone he had been hiding from for months. What on earth was she doing here, in Berne?

He cast a panicked look at Sennett. Did she knew who this was?

Sennett had taken hold of his arm and was holding his tense form where he stood.

"Silas, you know Sophie Neveu, I believe?" she said calmly.

Sophie was as shocked as Silas.

"My God, I thought you were dead! The Police reports said you were shot so many times there was no way you could survive!" Sophie said. Her face had gone white, "Why have you brought him here, to finish me off?" Sophie demanded, turning to Sennett.

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous!" Sennett said with annoyance, "Silas has nothing to do with Opus Dei any longer."

"This man is a murderer, do you understand that? He killed my grandfather! He has killed at least four Priory members, a nun, two police officers, two thieves and a man in jail. Goodness knows how many more aside from that which we don't know about," Sophie said, her voice shaking, "He is very dangerous."

"I also killed my father," Silas added in a low voice, his shoulders bowing under the weight of his own sins, "And you're right, I am a murderer!"

Silas' large form sank into the pew across the aisle from where Sophie was sitting and he buried his white head in his hands. It made Sennett's heart ache.

"I was aware of Silas' past, Sophie," Sennett said quietly, "He was told a lot of lies by a man he loved like a father, probably the only person who was ever kind to him. This man, who also carried the weight of the authority of a Bishop, told Silas that he had to obey a mysterious person called 'the Teacher' in order to protect the Church. This Teacher person told him to kill your grandfather and the Priory leaders. This Church that Silas was told to protect was the same Church that gave him a home, a place to belong and acceptance, something he had never had before in his life."

Sophie knew this 'Teacher' was Teabing. She had spent enough time with Teabing during her search for the keystone and then the grail to know how dangerous and treacherous he was as well as how utterly convincing and believable.

Sophie glanced past Sennett to the large figure sunk in anguish across the aisle from her. She didn't recognise him. The fanatical light had gone from his strange eyes. He no longer looked dangerous, that cold gleam had faded from his stare.

Suddenly he got up and went to sit in the pew in front of Sophie. He turned around to face her but didn't lift his eyes.

"I'm sorry I murdered your grandfather, Sophie. It was wrong and I can't put it right," he said, his deep voice gravelly with emotion.

Sophie watched as he traced the grain of the wood in the pew with one long, pale finger. She could barely take in what he was saying. Was this supposed maniac, this animal who had killed so many, actually apologising? Was he human, after all? Could he have changed so much in so short a space of time? It could almost make one believe in divine grace.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

_You shall not take __vengeance__, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself_

_Leviticus 19:18_

Sophie clearly remembered the look on his face when Silas had told her in Teabing's plane that he was 'a messenger of God'. He obviously no longer believed that. There was a new and profound humility in the hunched man before her.

"I thought…" Silas went on and it was obvious he was struggling. He swallowed before continuing, "I thought that it was all true and you were a threat to the Church but it was all lies," he finished, his voice suddenly harsh.

Sophie suddenly understood how devastating this had been for Silas emotionally. The entire foundation of his existence had been swept away, much like what was now happening to the Priory members.

A lightbulb went on in Sophie's mind.

"Silas was the person you did the DNA test for, wasn't he?" Sophie said to Sennett.

Sennett just nodded.

"I would appreciate it if you would try and forgive me," Silas said quietly, "I'm sorry I was violent towards you as well. It's bothered me ever since, bullying a small woman like yourself," he said, his white eyebrows drawn together in a frown, "It was cowardly and mean."

"We didn't like each other much, did we?" Sophie said wryly, "I gave you a good few slaps when you were safely tied up. So, I got some of my own revenge, eh?"

"I deserved it," Silas said miserably, still not looking at her.

Sennett wasn't too pleased to hear that Sophie had been slapping Silas, particularly when he had been defenceless. Still, it hadn't been her grandfather that Silas had killed.

"Well, I'm sorry for slapping you. Now, I'll forgive you if you forgive me," Sophie said matter of factly, "I think perhaps you are more sinned against than sinning, but you must promise me - no more murders."

It echoed the promise that Bishop Seraphim had elicted from Silas only months before.

But this time, Silas hesitated to give that promise because this time, there was someone that Silas wanted to murder.

Sophie noticed the hesitation.

"Well Silas, who is it you want to kill now?" she asked shrewdly, her eyes narrowing.

For the first time, Silas lifted his pale eyes and looked at Sophie in the face. The look chilled her, she remembered its manic ruthlessness well.

"I want to kill Langdon for what he did to Sennett," Silas confessed in a whisper.

Sennett's lips parted in horror and astonishment.

"Silas, I didn't get hurt. Not really," Sennett said, her fine dark brows drawing together in distress.

"Well, I don't mind that so much," Sophie said flatly, her dark eyes cool with sudden loathing.

With that, Sophie gathered her belongings and got up to leave.

"I'm glad to have met up with you again, Silas. Don't worry, I won't let anyone know where you are. It wouldn't matter anyway, they can't get at you in Switzerland. Besides, I see no reason not to let the police continue to believe you are dead. I think you have probably more than paid for your sins," she said, looking at him assessingly, her dark head tipped to one side. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Sennett. You are an interesting person. I hope we meet again someday. Thank you for the information you gave me."

Sophie shook Sennett's hand and left the church without looking back.

Sennett went and sat in the pew where Sophie had been sitting and looking at the dejected form of her husband who had just made such a dreadful confession. He wouldn't look at her.

"You promised Seraphim," she said quietly.

"I know," he said wretchedly.

"He didn't hurt me," Sennett said gently.

"You're flaring," he said, referring to her Lupus symptoms.

Sennett was surprised. She hadn't mentioned that she had been getting headaches, fevers and nausea since she got back from Roslin or that her joints were a bit stiff and sore. Her hair had begun to thin too but it was so thick, she was sure she was the only one who would notice.

"You never get pink in the cheeks unless you're flaring. I remember it from that time you had been in hospital and I came back from Engelberg," he said.

Silas must be very observant to notice the very slight rash she got, Sennett thought in amazement. No-one else had ever noticed it. Sometimes she herself just thought she was a bit pink in the cheeks.

"I know you're in pain. I can tell from your eyes," he added, clenching his hands into large fists, "I haven't known you this long that I can't tell."

"I'm used it. I know how to manage it. You can't murder someone just because they caused a flare. I get them all the time," Sennett said dismissively, hoping to calm him down. He didn't look calm. His tall frame was tense like a coiled wire.

"You'll been well since I got back from Engelberg. Besides, it's not just that. How dare he kidnap you like that? It's a terrifying experience for anybody, to be drugged and taken away from your own home. Then he was actually contemplating killing you!" Silas said, his voice grating with anger. As he talked about it, such a frightening expression of fury came over his face that Sennett's insides froze. When Silas was angry, he looked like a white-faced demon. His pale eyes turned colourless and the bones of his lean face stood out in harsh relief.

"Its part of your absolution, remember?" Sennett reminded him, "If you kill again, you wipe out your absolution for the other murders you committed. What are the three requirements for a proper confession?"

"You must confess all your sins, you must be truly sorry and you must never commit those sins again," he whispered through clenched teeth.

"Do you want to reinstate that guilt?" she asked.

"No," he said, his hands still clenched, "but I still want to kill Langdon." He closed his eyes, his mouth pressed together into a thin, white line.

"I will ring Seraphim this afternoon and ask him to speak to you tonight. Do you think you can put off going to Roslin until then?" Sennett said, bargaining for time.

He opened his pale eyes and looked at her, gratitude shining out behind the desperation.

"Yes, thank you."

* * *

**[Monday afternoon]**

Sennett drove back to the farm that afternoon feeling very tired. She had a headache and a fever too which the codeine was only just making bearable. It had been a hell of a day, first the confrontation with Sophie which had turned out to be quite interesting. Then that strange interior push from the Holy Spirit to bring Sophie and Silas together which she knew better than to disobey although it screamed against all her instincts to protect Silas from his enemies. She was rather glad Sophie had not been still working for the France National Police at the time and was unarmed, otherwise Silas may have ended up with more gun shot wounds or worse! Sophie obviously had very bad memories of Silas and did not like him at all.

Then Silas' confession about killing his father which Sennett had not known about. She had not said anything at the time, it was not important against Sophie and Silas sorting out their differences and making peace. On the other hand, it was an interesting insight into Silas' past. She knew Silas hated his father because he was physically violent and a bully in every way. Sennett could well understand the desire to murder one's own father. How many times had she fantasized about her own father's death, even about killing him herself? How often had she imagined the feeling of freedom in knowing her father was dead and could never plague them again? Had Silas felt like that or had he killed his father for another reason, perhaps to protect his mother?

Whatever the reason, Sennett couldn't find it in herself to judge Silas harshly for it. She had wanted to do the same thing far too many times herself to now condemn Silas for doing so. How close had she come? Those nights she had stood in her bedroom, literally blind with rage, her vision washed red with impotent fury, vividly picturing a baseball bat connecting with her father's head and enjoying every second of the image? No, she could not judge.

Of course, the thing that was really bothering her was this new revelation that Silas was harbouring a desire to kill Langdon. Sennett had no idea how having been an assassin for so long might affect any person. She knew that Silas sometimes found it hard to sleep and that occasionally he had nightmares about the murders he had committed. She could see the affects of his past in his personality. He never relaxed, he never smiled or laughed, he didn't talk a great deal and he was surprised by affection and grateful for attention.

Perhaps knowing he could kill Langdon and not get caught is what made the idea so attractive. Sennett pondered how many people in her life she would have liked to kill if she absolutely knew she could do it and not get caught. When she really thought about it, it made quite a list. She also imagined that killing another person was quite easy and once you'd killed one person and discovered that fact, it was much easier to keep on doing so – particularly if you were rewarded for it or someone had really hurt you or someone you loved. Still, two wrongs don't make a right, Sennett thought with a sigh.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

_But only speak a word, and my servant will be __healed._

_Matt 8:8_

She had rung Seraphim that afternoon from the University and he had been very pleased to hear from her. He had said he would be home that night and would expect a phone call from Silas at 7pm.

She told him the news that they were now married and he congratulated them.

"I had a feeling that Silas wasn't cut out for the monastery but I suppose it was good for him to try Engelberg and find that out for himself," Seraphim said philosophically, "Now you two can take care of each other."

Sennett told Seraphim why she wanted Silas to speak to him.

"He's struggling against a desire to murder again. One of my acquaintances is very ambitious and he thinks I might stand in the way of a particular project of his. He did some things he shouldn't have which made my Lupus flare a bit and now Silas is furious," Sennett explained, "I don't know how his past is going to continue to affect him."

"Both of us need to pray and I'll speak to him tonight," Seraphim said wisely and kindly.

* * *

Sennett never did find out what Seraphim said to Silas. She didn't listen in to the phone call but went to another room and worked on the computer while he spoke to his old confessor. They were on the phone a long time. It was late by the time Silas got off the call.

He looked much more peaceful by the time he came through to where she was working and Sennett instantly felt better when she saw his face. The glint of desperation and hardness in his eyes was gone. He looked much more like the Silas she loved.

"Want some tea?" she asked, stretching out her neck which was tense from worry, work and pain from her headache.

He nodded and followed her through to the kitchen.

"Do you hate me for killing my father?" Silas asked in a low voice, his tall form hunched over at the kitchen table. The thought had tortured him all afternoon but she hadn't seemed any different toward him when he came in from the farm.

Sennett looked at him in surprise.

"Not considering how many times I fantasized about killing my own father," she said sardonically, without any humour at all.

"Did you really?" he asked, lifting his pale eyes from the table to look at her as she brought the tea over.

"It was a constant theme," she assured him, "The methods varied. Sometimes it was a baseball bat and sometimes I thought about pushing him under a bus. I considered poison but knew I'd get it wrong. The trouble was that he was so much bigger and stronger than me."

That had never been an issue for him, Silas reflected. He was profoundly relieved that she seemed to somehow understand. Some people would never understand why a person would want to murder a parent but a parent was in a prime position to inflict most damage possible on their own child. They had so much power in their child's life.

She poured out the tea and then pulled her chair closer to his, so she could sit close to him as they drank. He put one long arm around her. He could feel the fever that burned her face through the rough cloth of his work shirt. His pale lips compressed. He may not hunt Langdon down like the dog he was and snap his neck with his bare hands the way he wanted to. He may even have to forgive him, but he didn't have to like pretend to like what Langdon had done to his wife. He didn't have to pretend not to feel angry.

Seraphim had told him it was okay to feel angry, it just wasn't okay to act on that anger. Seraphim was the first person in his life who had told him it was okay to feel angry, that he had a right to his feelings. All his life, people had told him that who he was and how he felt wasn't right. They had denied his reality and forced him to swallow his emotions. Except that emotions couldn't be swallowed. If you tried to swallow them, they simply vomited back up in other forms – violence, self-abuse, depression, rage, unreasoning fear, self-hatred and suicidal feelings. Seraphim had explained all this to him. Silas had listened to all this with a rapidly beating heart. He recognised himself immediately.

"If you don't let yourself feel what you feel, then you can never know yourself. If you never know yourself, then you can never form healthy relationships with others. How can you show them who you are, if you don't know yourself?" Seraphim had said gently, "So it's okay to feel angry. It's not okay to act on that anger and hurt someone else."

To Silas, all this was a revelation. To have permission to feel what he felt was like being let out of a cage. He knew he'd probably just retreat back into the cage like most trapped animals do at first but gradually, he'd get used to letting himself just feel. He'd stay out for longer and longer periods.

Sitting in the kitchen with Sennett, he felt at peace, despite his anger at Langdon. The scent of her hair and perfume was familiar as was the warmth and shape of her form next to him. He knew he had a long way to go; he wasn't a whole person yet. He had a lot of healing to do, but for the first time he had hope that he may get there one day.

**[Tuesday night]**

Sophie felt weary in her bones by the time she called a meeting of the Priory on Tuesday night in Roslin. The trip to Berne had turned out to be emotional in the end, although she had had to wait so much longer than she anticipated to see Sennett.

When all the members had gathered together, she calmly outlined what Sennett had told her about how the sample was obtained.

"There can be no doubt that it was a genuine sample," Sennett said with a shrug, "I am sure Sennett would be happy to allow me to do a test where I submit another sample of my DNA to see if it matches the DNA in the test to be 100% sure but I don't know if that's necessary. I don't think I really want the laboratory to have contact with me."

There was a murmur amongst the Priory members as they discussed it. Marie Cheuval sat silently, her silver head lowered.

"All the Priory leaders have gone now. There is just me and my brother who were supposed to carry on the Merovingian line. Well, I'm no Princess and I'm not going to carry on a charade like a child playing a game. I will be going back to France and re-applying for my old job at the France National Police. I am going to take up my old life where it left off only a few months ago. You must decide for yourselves what to do now that there is no grail but my advice to you is to dissolve the Priory of Sion for good," Sophie continued after a few minutes.

"What about Langdon?" Jean asked, his voice cutting across the murmuring that had broken out again.

"I don't know what to do about Langdon," Sophie confessed, "If there is no Priory and no Princess Sophie, he can hardly publish, can he?"

"What about what he did to Sennett Langlois?" Louise asked angrily.

"What did he do?" the Priory members immediately began asking, as they had not heard that story.

With a sigh, Sophie told everyone about Langdon's ambition to publish the history of the Priory and sensationalise how he had found the 'holy grail' in Sophie herself.

"He was hoping to provoke a huge reaction from the Church, create a publishing publicity machine and have a number one best seller," Sophie explained, "Until Jean and Louise found out about Sennett's DNA test and told him."

She then went on to explain how Langdon had kidnapped Sennett. Jean produced copies of the photos and handed them around. There were audible gasps as people saw Langdon with a gun pointed at an unfamiliar woman in Roslin.

"This is outrageous," Marie Cheuval muttered. Marie had known the story from Sophie but had not seen the photos before.

"When I saw Sennett, she confirmed the story. Langdon was debating whether or not to kill her and hadn't decided at the time she was rescued by… by a friend of her's," Sophie said.

"Why should he think he can exploit us in this way?" Marie Cheuval said angrily.

"But isn't this what we always wanted, for the 'truth' to be known and the lies of the Church to be exposed? Except it turns out that the Church was right and we were the ones who were lied to," a young Priory member said bitterly.

"And did the leaders know it was all lies?" a young woman asked angrily, "Why did they lie to us for all these years? What was the use of making all those elaborate forged documents and recruiting all of us to a false quest like this?"

"I don't know what Jacques Sauniere believed was true about the Priory and its beginnings but I do know he believed in the truth of the feminine devine and in freedom from the oppression of the Church," Marie Cheuval said slowly, "Perhaps that's what all of you can take away from this, if nothing else."

Sophie looked around at all the disillusioned faces. She knew that few of them would take anything but bitterness from this experience. She knew few of them would ever trust religious leaders of any kind again. Their trust had been destroyed. They had been treated like fools and were unlikely to ever forget it.

"We have to vote about the dissolution of the Priory. I will organise a secret ballot to all the members this week containing the information we discussed tonight. If the leaders were still alive it would be their decision, but as they are not I believe this is the fairest way," Marie Cheuvel said with dignity, "Now, we have to decide how to deal with Langdon. Obviously he is heavily invested in the Priory continuing and keeping the DNA test results secret. If the Priory votes to dissolve, as I believe it will, Langdon will not react well."

"He has already shown he is dangerous and capable of violence," Jean said warned.

"He can't murder all of us," Sophie said wryly.

"No, but he could murder you and dispose of your body so no verifying DNA tests could be done later. Then it would be his word against the Priory members' and Sennett's," one Priory member argued.

"It's a bit of a stretch. After all, a DNA test is a DNA test. He would have to murder me and Sennett and the person who took my DNA sample. It starts to become a major cover up exercise. I think it's all too hard, really. He isn't MI5 or the CIA. He doesn't have those kinds of resources at his disposal for murder and cover up. He isn't a trained assassin. Look how easily and quickly Sennett got away from him," Sophie reasoned.

"I do agree with Jean that he's dangerous, however," Marie Cheuval said cautiously, "He seems dangerously impulsive."

"I think once he realises that the Priory has dissolved for good and I am no longer amenable to his schemes, he will know he has to give them up. It may make him very angry but he will realise there is little he can do about it," Sophie said, "I will be back in France by then. I am leaving tomorrow."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

_"How you are fallen from heaven, O __Lucifer__, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!_

_Isaiah 14:12 _

**[Wednesday morning]**

Marie Cheuval sent the ballots by email to make the process quicker. With the ballot, she sent a detailed account of recent events and a scanned copy of the DNA test results. Her granddaughter Sophie had left for France at first light and now, only a few hours later, she already felt lonely.

Marie began to get replies and ballot results within an hour. Within 24 hours, she had heard from all the Priory members. Many of the ballots came back with long accompanying emails which Marie would reply to in full later. They were full of disbelief and heartbreak, some were angry but most contained confusion that an organisation like the Priory could operate under such falsehood for so long.

"Why did you leave me with this mess, Jacques?" Marie murmured, slowly gathering the email ballots she had printed off ready to count.

The vote was overwhelming for the dissolution of the Priory of Sion. It was a sad ending to what had been a proud company.

With a heavy heart, Marie composed the email that contained the official announcement of the results and sent it. By 9am Thursday morning, the Priory of Sion was no more.

* * *

Langdon had been busy with his own plans during this time. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had allowed Sennett to escape. Perhaps it was the profound shock of seeing that Silas was still alive. He, like everyone else who had been involved in the hunt for the 'grail' a few months ago, was sure he had been killed by the Police. Now he showed up again to rescue Sennett. How did Silas even know Sennett? He knew, better than anyone, that Silas was a trained assassin and could move with silent and deadly precision like a shadow in and out of certain locations and situations. Once Silas knew where Sennett was, Langdon had no hope of holding on to her. On the other hand, it didn't answer the questions of how Silas knew Sennett, why he would want to rescue her and how he found her so fast.

Vittoria had been rather disgusted at him for letting Sennett and Silas get away. After all, they both had so much invested in the publication of Langdon's research now. If Sennett reported him to the Police, it could spoil everything.

He felt unsure of himself all of a sudden. He didn't know whether to go back to her home on the farm and try and reason with her, but what if that maniac Silas was there? What was his relationship to Sennett now, anyway? Was she under the protection of Opus Dei and if so, why? Aringarosa was dead. The Teacher had betrayed him and the Opus Dei inner circle.

There was just too much he didn't know - that was the problem. He wasn't sure how to proceed and he wasted a few days prevaricating.

In the meantime, he hadn't heard from Sophie which was unusual. He had taken to not answering her calls or brushing her off. He didn't want to put her off-side because he needed her to help promote his book but he didn't want her showing up at the house while Vittoria was there or worse, when he'd had Sennett there as well.

On the weekend following his kidnapping of Sennett, he tried Sophie's mobile phone a few times but found it was either switched off or it rang through to her voice mail. Langdon began to grow suspicious. That was not like Sophie. He may not get hold of her the first time he tried, but she would always return his call within a few hours. She was deliberately avoiding him. Why? Had she found out about Vittoria from the nosey neighbours? Langdon thought about it and decided that must be the case. Well, he would just explain to her that Vittoria was a cousin visiting from London. He'd introduce her by another name otherwise Sophie might accidentally find out who she really was.

He popped over to her grandmother's house to see her but was informed that Sophie was away visiting friends in France for a few days and she wasn't sure when Sophie would be back; a carefully concocted lie that Marie and Sophie had come up with together in case Langdon did show up. Langdon did notice that Marie seemed rather cooler in her manner toward him than usual but he put that down to natural protectiveness. If Sophie had told her grandmother about Vittoria, it was likely that Marie wasn't going to be too pleased with him. Langdon said a very charming 'thank you' and went back to his own house.

Well, if Sophie was going to go off and sulk with her friends in France and not answer her phone then there wasn't too much he could do for now, he thought peevishly.

As no Police had turned up to arrest him for kidnapping by the weekend, Langdon assumed that Sennett had decided to stay quiet.

He still only had her word that she wasn't interested in publishing any counter story regarding the claims he was going to make about the Merovingian line and the grail but it may have to be a risk he had to live with. If Silas was protecting Sennett for whatever reason, Langdon didn't have much hope of silencing her.

* * *

**[Thursday night]**

It wasn't until Thursday night that Langdon was summoned to a meeting of the Priory members. He had no idea that it was to be the last official meeting of the Priory and a meeting both of dissolution and confrontation.

He was surprised to see that no-one was wearing their robes and that Sophie was not there.

In a bold move, he had brought Vittoria along.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Victoria, my cousin from London. She's been staying with me while she's taking some leave from work," he said with his usual pleasant charm.

The Priory members exchanged looks but said nothing. Langdon was not subtle or sensitive enough to feel the hostility in the room.

Marie Cheuval stepped forward.

"Robert, we will not waste your time by beating about the bush. The former Priory members have met tonight to discuss arrangements regarding the dissolution of the Priory. A vote was taken yesterday of all members worldwide and a decision was taken to dissolve the Priory in light of the DNA test results that Louise Lambert discovered a couple of weeks ago," she said with quiet dignity but firmness.

Langdon was so shocked that he was literally speechless. He wanted to interrupt Marie but was simply unable to form any words.

"Sophie did not go to France over these past few days, she went to Switzerland to see Sennett Langlois to speak to her further regarding how the samples were obtained. She wanted to ensure the test was valid before making any recommendation to the Priory. You may be interested to know that Sennett appears to be coping in the aftermath of your kidnapping and the threats you made on her life," Marie added sharply.

Victoria gasped and stared wide-eyed at Langdon.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said coolly.

"We have photographic evidence, Robert," Marie said, her own voice threaded through with steel, "Jean, show him copies of the photos. We have copies in a bank vault, so don't bother to think you can destroy the evidence the way you thought you could keep the only copy of the DNA test results."

Jean gave Langdon copies of the two photos with a disgusted look and then went back to his place beside Louise.

"Oh my god," Vittoria said, looking over his shoulder at the shots, her face ashen.

"Do you believe in God, Vittoria?" Marie said dryly, "Your father did. He believed science could establish a link between man and God. He was an extraordinary man. I don't know what he would think if he could see your behaviour now."

Vittoria's cheeks stained red. "How do you know who I am?" she whispered.

"Sophie used to work for the France National Police. There is very little she can't find out, if she wants to," Marie replied simply.

"What are you planning to do with these?" Robert asked through clenched teeth, waving the photos at Marie. His dark eyes were almost black with suppressed fury.

"We haven't decided yet, Robert," she replied, "Perhaps that will depend on you."

An ugly red flush crept over Langdon's face. He wasn't used to being thwarted.

"What do you want?" he spat.

"I think a promise that you will not try and publish your research which, as you now know perfectly well, has been proved untrue, is a good start. Also, a promise to leave both Sophie and Sennett alone from now on," Marie said calmly.

"And in return I get all copies of these photos?" Robert snarled.

"No, no Robert, we do not trust you that far. In return, they will stay where they are for good. Upon your death, they will be destroyed," Marie replied with a charming smile.

"How can I trust you?" Robert said, still red-faced.

"Don't measure others by your own half-bushel," Marie said, "Do you know what that means? It means, just because you are untrustworthy yourself, doesn't mean everyone else is. You will have to trust us."

"It appears I have no choice. You have taken everything away from me tonight! All my plans, my future, my hopes for my career… You have no idea what you have destroyed!" Robert spluttered, his dark eyes infuriated.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

_Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take __revenge__ on you_

_Judges 15:7_

Marie looked at the infuriated Langdon coolly.

"I think the only thing that has been destroyed is your own vanity," Marie retorted, "There is no guarantee that the book you had planned about the Priory would have captured the world's imagination. The largest religion in the world is still Christianity. They are not interested in some small group of people who believe they are protecting Christ's descendent. Even if the DNA tests had shown a definite genetic link between Sophie and Magdalene's remains, the Church could have argued that there is a good chance that the remains didn't really belong to Magdalene at all. Who is to say that they wouldn't have been right? In the end, the stretches of time we are talking about are too long and the only real proof anyone has is faith. Your book would not have moved the genuine faith of the majority of Christians; it would not even have disturbed it. They would have carried on worshipping their Holy Trinity in the way they've done for two thousand years, indifferent to yet another heretic who has written yet another heresy."

"At least they wouldn't have burned him at the stake," one young Priory member said and the other members laughed.

"There is more than one way to burn a heretic at the stake," Marie said with an answering twinkle in her eye, "Perhaps we are doing you a favour, perhaps the media roasting would have been worse."

Langdon was not in the mood to laugh. All he could see was a fortune disappearing into the ether and the accompanying fame going with it.

"Do you promise, Robert?" Marie said, suddenly serious again.

"It seems I have no choice," Langdon replied, his hostility evident in every line of his body and every tone of his voice, "I promise."

* * *

Langdon went back to his house with Vittoria in tow in a rage. He threw the photos in the fire and watched as they burned.

Quickly he packed his clothes and belongings. He would never come to Roslin again.

"What are you going to do now, Robert?" Vittoria asked.

"I'm going to take up a post I was offered recently at Cambridge," he replied tersely, locking his suitcase with a snap.

"You're not going back to Harvard?" she said, surprised.

"Not yet," he said, "There is more work for me on the Continent anyway."

He looked at her standing there awkwardly.

"Are you getting packed? I want to leave tonight," he said with a frown.

With a sigh, she went and found her suitcase.

* * *

All the way to Cambridge, Langdon brooded about the events of the past 24 hours. He didn't blame himself for his own downfall. He blamed Sennett for having done the DNA test in the first place, he blamed Jean and Louise for having kept a copy of the results and showing them to other Priory members, he blamed Silas for still being alive and for rescuing Sennett, he blamed the nosey person who had taken those photos (and he still didn't know who had), he blamed Sophie for her disloyalty to him (his own disloyalty to her never occurred to him) and he blamed Marie Cheuval for dictating terms to him. He had had a terrible string of bad luck.

Now he had been forced to make a promise not to seek revenge on either Sophie or Sennett. As for the Priory, they were dissolved so there was nothing he could do to them. Besides, it was dangerous, they still had those photos.

There was someone however, that he could still make pay for all his ruined plans and misery. He had an old score to settle with Silas. Not only had Silas taken a crucial decision out of his hands by rescuing Sennett before he could decide what to do with her but Silas had also created enormous difficulties in the first quest when they were looking for the 'grail'. If the Police knew that Silas was still alive, they would want to arrest him. However, there was a good chance that he was in Switzerland. Sennett was now living there and he seemed to have some kind of role in protecting her.

No, the Police were not the best option. Opus Dei was a much better choice. Langdon smiled to himself in the dark of the car as they sped through the night towards England.

**[Friday morning]**

Langdon knew that with Aringarosa dead, his best bet for reaching the rest of the Opus Dei inner circle was to contact his previous Vicar General.

All Langdon had to do was ring the office of Aringarosa's former Diocese and request to speak to the priest who had been Aringarosa's Vicar General. As it turned out, he was performing the same role for the current Bishop.

"Yes, how can I help you?" the Vicar General said when Langdon was put through.

"I know you can pass a message on to the right people at Opus Dei. Silas isn't dead. I saw him just over a week ago. He's now living in Switzerland," Langdon said smoothly.

"What?... Who are you?" the Vicar General demanded.

"I'm Robert Langdon. I helped Sophie Neveu find the Keystone," he replied.

There was an audible intake of breath on the other side of the line.

"What else do you know?" the Vicar General asked.

"Silas was last seen with Sennett Langlois who works at Berne University. I don't know what the connection between them is, however," Langdon said.

"Thank you. We'll be in touch if need be," the Vicar General said crisply and the phone went dead.

Langdon smiled as he hung up the phone.

* * *

"Well gentlemen, you know what this news means. His Holiness had given us strict instructions," the Bishop said, glancing at the other clerics and powerful men in the room. An Opus Dei pin shone from his clerical robes.

"When will you ring his Holiness?" another Bishop asked.

"Right now, gentlemen," the Bishop said, taking a mobile phone from the pocket of his robes.

It took a few minutes to get through the layers of secretaries and assistants before the Bishop was put through to Mortati. The conclave could only hear the Bishop's side of the conversation.

"Your Holiness, thank you for taking my call. Usually I would email but this is too important to wait. Silas has been found. He is living in Switzerland," the Opus Dei leader said, getting to the point immediately. Mortati liked people to get to the point.

"Robert Langdon let us know less than half an hour ago."

"Yes, you met him after that tragic series of incidents over the anti-matter. I'm sure he's reliable."

"Yes, I will. Thank you, Your Holiness."

The Bishop hung up his mobile and looked around at the gathered Opus Dei inner circle.

"His Holiness has told me to leave it with him," the Bishop told them, "I'll pass on the extra information about Sennett Langlois by email."

* * *

Cardinal Morelli, the Carmerlengo, was never far from Mortati as the Pope's closest and most important assistant.

"Silas has been located. He's still alive," Mortati murmured just loud enough for Morelli to hear.

"The source?" Morelli asked.

"The remnants of Aringarosa's little circle in Opus Dei. Their source was Robert Langdon," Mortati replied.

"Langdon? The hero of the anti-matter tragedy?" Morelli said with raised eye-brows.

"I don't see how he's a hero. He didn't manage to save a single one of those Cardinals. They all died horribly," Mortati retorted, "Still he has to be kept sweet. The less he talks about it, the better for the Vatican."

"Quite," Morelli agreed, "What is the next step?"

"I want to send D'Arco to find this Silas," Mortati said.

A chill went up Morelli's back. D'Arco was a trained Opus Dei assassin and very dangerous. Mortati was Opus Dei himself but had no time for Aringarosa's group and their silly ideas about trying to preserve Opus Dei under his Papal predecessor, that half mad Pope with his fully mad son whom he had made his own Camerlengo.

"D'Arco will not fail to find him, if he's there," Mortati said broodingly.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

_In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, __Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake._

_Job 4:13-14_

Sennett had felt unusually restless at work since Sophie's visit. She was glad it wasn't too busy, exams were still some weeks away and assignments weren't due yet. She supposed it wasn't surprising she felt the way she did. The past couple of weeks had been a whirlwind. She was paying for it now with this flare.

The problem with having a prophetic gift, Sennett thought, was that it generally only really applied to others. God had tried to warn her about the events to come but it was so much harder to interpret His Word when it applied to your own life than when it applied to others' lives. When it applied to others, Sennett instinctively understood what God was telling her. It was easy to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in how to pray. When it was her own life, she tended to second guess God and apply the wrong interpretation. It was only later, after the events unfolded, that she saw how what He had told her applied.

A week before she had woken up in Langdon's car, God had given her Psalm 70:

_Make haste,__ O God, to deliver me! _

_Make haste to help me, O Lord! _

_Let them be ashamed and confounded _

_Who seek my life; _

_Let them be turned back and confused _

_Who desire my hurt. _

_Let them be turned back because of their shame, _

_Who say, "Aha, aha!" _

_Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; _

_And let those who love Your salvation say continually, _

_"Let God be magnified!" _

_But I __am__ poor and needy; _

_Make haste to me, O God! _

_You __are__ my help and my deliverer; _

_O Lord, do not delay. _

It had confused her. Who was threatening her? She was only to find out later.

This morning she had received another confusing Word. This time from Psalm 91,

_You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, _

_Nor__ of the arrow __that__ flies by day, _

_Nor__ of the pestilence __that__ walks in darkness, _

_Nor__ of the destruction __that__ lays waste at noonday. _

_Only with your eyes shall you look, _

_And see the reward of the wicked. _

_Because you have made the Lord, __who is__ my refuge, _

_Even__ the Most High, your dwelling place, _

_No evil shall befall you, _

_Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; _

_For He shall give His angels charge over you, _

_To keep you in all your ways. _

_In __their__ hands they shall bear you up, _

_Lest you dash your foot against a stone. _

_"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; _

_I will set him on high, because he has known My name. _

_He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; _

_I __will be__ with him in trouble; _

_I will deliver him and honor him. _

She knew another storm was brewing but what form it would take, she had no idea. She trusted God but that didn't mean it wouldn't be stressful and difficult.

She was worried about Silas although less so now that Seraphim seemed to have calmed him down. Since she had been kidnapped, he had not slept through the night and she had sometimes woken up to take pain medication only to find the bed empty and Silas prowling through the house, moving like a shadow, checking doors and windows.

On one occasion she had found him sitting on the couch in the living room with the lamp on, staring broodingly into space. Whatever he was thinking about or remembering, it was not pleasant.

She had stood there in her dressing gown with her hair rumpled around her shoulders and looked at him sleepily for a few moments, unsure what to do. Then she simply sat down next to him.

"Why are you awake?" he asked, his voice low.

"Headache," Sennett answered, which was true. The headaches she got during her flare were so severe that they woke her up during the night when the codeine wore off and she had to take more to get back to sleep. She had just taken another two tablets before going in search of Silas, "Why are you awake?"

He didn't answer. He didn't know. He kept dreaming about the men he had killed. His father's face, filled with rage, was always with him, but the other men sometimes left him for long periods. Just lately, they had been haunting him. When he killed his father, he had run away immediately. He had come back just long enough to take whatever money he could find and his mother's jewelry before the Police were alerted. He had not watched his father die.

The other men were different. The man in jail whose neck he had broken had twitched horribly for a long time. It wasn't like the movies where a person was fatally wounded and then just laid still and silent. That would be easy. The two thieves in Aringarosa's church had done the same, twitching and shuddering like macabre dolls or marionettes being jerked on strings.

The men he had shot were worse. At least those with broken necks were silent. The ones he shot groaned horribly, breathing heavily and wetly taking several long minutes to die. Some of them struggled to move around, staggering like drunks, blood pouring from their wounds. That hideous gurgling, sucking, gasping of their final breaths would haunt Silas forever.

The Nun at Saint Sulpice, the one whose skull he had crushed, had also taken a long time to die. Her breathing had been horribly laboured and in the end, he had broken her neck as an act of mercy, to speed the process.

As for the Police he had shot, he felt that was a fair fight. They would have succeeded in killing him if it hadn't been for Sennett finding him when she did. He hadn't stuck around long enough to watch them die. He had seen enough men die from gun shot wounds to know what it meant anyway.

Nowadays, he was simply unable to watch much television and most movies were out of the question. Any hint of violence sent him reeling. The news was almost impossible. The sound of gun shots made him jump visibly and as for seeing any bloody victims of violence, it was liable to make him feel light-headed and dizzy.

He couldn't comprehend the casual violence he saw in movies. James Bond was unfathomable to him. How could a cold blooded killer be considered glamorous or attractive? There was nothing remotely appealing in killing. There was a stark, mundane quality to murder and death. Evil was very banal. He had come to the point where he simply could not watch any movie or television show for fear of a violent scene coming on unexpectedly and the reaction it would provoke in him that would be with him for days. He simply couldn't bear the inner turmoil. Immediately, his own murders would play before his inner eye more clearly than if on a movie reel. With the images came the remembered fear, guilt, self-disgust and shame. He felt like a monster and as though the whole world could see he was a monster. He was afraid to look Sennett in the eye; afraid she could see all the shocking things in his past just by looking at him and would cease to love him. He desperately wanted to peel off his own skin and be someone else. Most of all, he wanted peace.

Sennett, sitting next to him on the couch, could feel the inner turmoil and knew it was somehow connected to his past. She knew this would be something he would probably deal with for the rest of his life but as time went on, he would gradually learn ways to cope. All she could do was what she was doing now, just be there with him.

Her eyelids felt heavy and she rested her chin in one hand as she sat beside him. She figured if she was going to be up anyway, she may as well pray. So she prayed that the Holy Spirit would send peace and calm to Silas' troubled spirit and give him perspective on whatever it was that was tormenting him.

Gradually the storm clouds over Silas' mind cleared somewhat and he felt a lifting in his spirits. Like a shadow passing, his thoughts seemed clearer and he realised that if Sennett was willing to sit beside him in the middle of the night without an explanation as to his odd behaviour, she obviously didn't see a monster when she looked at him. He put an arm around her.

"Come back to bed now, Silas. You've got to get up in a few hours," she said sleepily.

Silently he followed her back through the darkened house to sleep peacefully until dawn.

* * *

Friday was one of her shorter days and she was able to leave early in the afternoon. She decided not to do any extra hours this week. There was no need, her work was up-to-date.

Sennett got back to the farm at around 2.30pm and decided to do some washing. She had always hired a cleaner to come in and do the heavy cleaning once a week as her muscles and joints got too sore to do it herself. There was always a local nearby who was grateful for the extra income. The lighter work she did herself, particularly now when she was working part-time hours.

She knew Silas would be busy with the animals until at least 6pm. As she worked, she meditated on the Psalm and prayed a bit on it, claiming the protection the Psalm promised without really understanding why. Sennett had a wide range of general protective prayers she could call on and she used them now for herself and Silas as she put in loads of washing, put loads into the dryer, folded and sorted. As she worked, she could feel the storm lowering…


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

_Be sober, be __vigilant__; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. _

_1 Peter 5:8_

Bernardo D'Arco was an Italian born monk from the Southern regions of Italy. He didn't have mafia blood but he looked as though he might. He was of medium height but muscular with pitch black hair and eyes as dark as olive pitts. His skin was the deep bronze of the Southern peasant but smooth like the aristocrat he was.

His family had been Opus Dei Supernumeraries but he had decided to dedicate his life to God as a priest and monk. He had been recruited for special duties when his father had recommended him to the Opus Dei Prelate as having special talents with weapons and for martial arts. This had suited D'Arco. There had always been heretics throughout Church history and they had always had to be dealt with. He was well equipped for the task.

Within half an hour of receiving the Camerlengo's summons, he was before Mortati. It was barely 10am. When he received his orders from His Holiness himself, he face remained impassive. It was an unusual assignment but one that would need some of his special skills. He understood why he was being called on. It was not up to him to question the Pope's judgment.

"You will fly to Zurich today using the Papal helicopter and then, you're on your own in terms of tracking Silas down. We have no leads. Our contacts in the intelligence community have let us down. He is not registered at any known address. He appears to have nothing registered under his own name. Either he is using a false name or someone else is doing everything for him," Mortati outlined, "The only thing we can tell you is that he was last seen with Sennett Langlois who works part-time at the University of Berne. We don't know what the connection there is," Mortati added.

D'Arco nodded. He had a feeling that Sennett Langlois was going to lead him straight to Silas.

The Papal helicopter got D'Arco in to Zurich before noon and he was on his way to Berne University immediately.

He made enquiries at the front counter as to where Sennett's office was. As Sennett headed up the History and Linguistics department at Berne, it didn't seem strange to the Registrant to have an Italian priest in monks' robes asking for her.

D'Arco had no intention of being seen by Sennett, however. He simply wanted to catch a glimpse of her so he could follow her when she left.

As he came around the corner of the corridor where her office was, he saw a small dark-haired woman locking her office door. He ducked quickly back around the corner. It must be her and she was leaving already.

He waited until she had gone past and then trailed her so far behind that it would have been impossible for any casual observer to notice he was actually following her.

He had deliberately parked close to the door. This enabled him to get to his car first, so he was able to have the engine ticking over by the time she got into her own car and began to pull out of the car park.

After that, it was so easy to follow her, it was almost ridiculous. He kept enough distance and enough cars between them so only a very astute person would notice they were being followed. When she pulled off onto a farm, he kept going at the same pace and then waited before turning around and coming back. He parked outside another property and assessed the situation.

The farm where Sennett lived had a main farmhouse and three workers cottages. He could tell this from the post boxes at the driveway. He had no idea which house Sennett lived in, so he wasn't sure which house to watch. They seemed to be spread out over different fields which added to the difficulty. He would have to wait until twilight to do some further investigation. It looked too conspicuous, a monk wandering around farm fields.

He moved his car to a less conspicuous spot down a public side road away from the main stretch. A monk in a car by the road was something people may remember later.

* * *

**[Friday evening]**

Twilight was falling by 5pm and D'Arco got out of his car and waited until the traffic cleared on the main road before crossing it and heading deep into the field on the other side which was a neighboring property to Hans' dairy farm. Cutting through the neighbour's field, he headed in the direction of the farm he had seen Sennett turn into.

It was a good thing, he thought wryly, that he was wearing closed shoes rather than the sandals we wore in summer at the Vatican. Goodness only knew what he was walking through.

He could see a workers cottage in the distance but it had a blue car parked in the open garage and D'Arco was looking for a dark red car.

He moved Southward across the fields until he came to another workers cottage. This time he struck the right one. Sennett's car was parked outside the garage. Through the open kitchen curtains, D'Arco could see that Sennett was in the house at her computer. She had her back to him. There was no sign of anyone else in the house.

D'Arco wasn't quite sure what to do next. He had half expected to see Silas in the house with her but there was no sign of him.

He decided to explore the rest of the property while it was dark and then come back the next day. He'd have to set up some kind of permanent surveillance until Silas did show up. Now was a good time to figure out where that should be.

Silently he crept away from the house back across the fields, heading north once again. He had seen some huge dairy sheds in the distance. He knew they would be heated and warm. Perhaps he could use the loft for surveillance? He knew they wouldn't be manned all day. The cows would be fed some grain and milked in the morning and then again at night. The rest of the time they'd be let out for grazing.

By the time he reached the sheds it was completely dark. He glanced at his watch, pressing the small button that lit the dial. It was about 5.45pm. He came up from the back of the sheds where the only windows were high up and he would not be seen, darkness or not.

He heard the workers calling goodnight to each other and saw them heading off toward their respective homes. He shrank back against the shed wall.

Finally it all seemed quiet. A few dim lights were on but that was so the workers could see in the pre-dawn darkness tomorrow.

He moved silently along the walls of the shed and carefully pushed open the shed door, testing it first to see if it would make a loud noise. The doors were only closed to keep the heating in, they were never locked. Not that locks would have kept D'Arco out.

Once inside, he could see rows of stalls where the cows were milked twice a day plus all kinds of animal husbandry equipment that D'Arco could only guess the use of.

He glanced up to see if the loft was suitable and as he did so, something that felt like steel bands closed around him and pinned his arms. A knife was held to his throat.

"Who are you and what do you want?" a deep, rasping voice said in his ear.

He had found Silas, the famous Opus Dei assassin.

* * *

Sennett was updating her academic blog when she heard a knock on the back door. It was about 5.30pm. Puzzled, she went to the door. She figured it must be Francine, Jacque's wife or perhaps one of the other Cowherd's wives. Sometimes they dropped by to say hello and exchange farm gossip.

When she opened the door, there was no-one there but in the distance, she could just make out a familiar figure. He was very tall and broad through the shoulders, and had dirty blonde curls. He was still wearing his suspect looking khakis but he had thick, warm wind-breaker on this time. He turned briefly and although it was dark and he was quite a distance away, she could somehow see his face quite clearly. He wasn't smiling, he looked quite serious which was unusual for him. His odd, eerie, Tahitian sea-blue eyes looked sober. Sennett knew from a single look that she was supposed to follow him. Grateful that she had her thick soled boots on from an earlier trip outside to the garage, she let him lead the way.

Later on, she was never quite sure when he disappeared and where exactly he went but he led her right up to the cow shed doors. One second he was there and the next time she looked up, he was gone.

That was the problem with angels, Sennett thought, they were so annoyingly mysterious.

One of the doors was slightly open and Sennett slipped through, not at all sure what she was supposed to do next. She knew the second she saw Silas pressing a knife to a strange monk's throat only a few metres away from the door.

"No, Silas! Don't do it. You can't live with it anymore. It's not worth it," Sennett pleaded, her face crumpling in distress.

"There is a gun in his pocket. Grab it Sennett and hold it on him," Silas commanded, his pale eyes cold in the dim light.

Sennett's lips thinned but she did as Silas said. The monk didn't move in Silas' hold. In fact, he couldn't. Silas was significantly larger than himself, apart from any other consideration.

Silas let the monk go cautiously while Sennett kept the gun trained on him. Silas took the gun from Sennett and then gestured the monk into one of the chairs around a table that the workers used during the day for breaks.

"There is some rope near those bins of feed. Can you please fetch it for me, Sennett?" Silas said, his icy calm wrecking havoc on Sennett's nerves. This was the one side of Silas that she disliked and did not want to see.

She brought the rope and he handed her the gun again while he tied the monk to the chair.

"Would you shoot that?" D'Arco said with a taunting grin to Sennett, noting her white face.

"You shut up," Silas hissed with such rabid ferocity that Sennett was stunned.

"I would shoot it to hurt you, I wouldn't shoot it to kill you," Sennett replied, sounding far calmer than she felt. In fact, she sounded so calm that she fooled both D'Arco and Silas. They both looked at her with new respect.

"Now, you will tell me who sent you and why," Silas said, his deep voice rasping, once more taking the gun from Sennett and putting the knife in his belt.


	19. Chapter 19

_Note to Readers: I haven't been updating as regularly as I've started studying in the second half of this year and I'm much busier than I was in the first half. Some of you have given me gentle reminders to update. To be honest, I keep forgetting about this story. I finished writing it back in January and have been posting it chapter by chapter when I remember. Because there haven't been many reviews, I tend to forget. If you're enjoying stories, it's probably a good idea to review regularly, otherwise the writer will assume that no-one is following along and won't bother to update very often. Speaking for myself, I don't pay much attention to stats like page hits, etc. I do write for myself which is why the story was finished at the beginning of the year but there isn't much motivation to post the chapters unless I know you're out there reading along. Hope you are enjoying it anyway. Thanks to those who have reviewed. _

**Chapter Nineteen**

_He has sent Me to __heal__ the brokenhearted_

_Luke 4:18_

"If you take the tape recorder from my other pocket, you will hear who and why for yourselves," D'Arco replied with unnerving placidity.

Sennett got up and quickly took the tiny tape recorder from the depths of the monk's pocket. It was the kind used for dictation.

She checked that it had been rewound and then put it in the centre of the table and pushed 'play'.

"_A message from His Holiness, Pope Honorius IV."_

Sennett and Silas exchanged a disbelieving look. Another voice began to speak, a very familiar voice. One heard transmitted from the Vatican all over the world.

"_Silas, it has been my desire for a long time to have the opportunity to address you regarding Bishop Aringarosa's actions a few months ago. He acted without the authority of the Church and without even the authority of the Opus Dei Prelate. My predecessor in Peter's See had no idea what Bishop Aringarosa was up to. If he had, he would have put a stop to it. Unfortunately, there were those who were powerful in the Vatican and in Opus Dei who did support him. Since Bishop Aringarosa's death, I have been trying to dismantle his circle within Opus Dei. Slowly, I am succeeding. _

"_Once I heard you were still alive, I sent our best man to find you to deliver his message. He is a loyal servant of the Church, Silas. I hope you will not harm him out of fear. _

"_My message to you is to ask your pardon for the sins of Bishop Aringarosa, for the sins of Opus Dei and the sins of those within the Vatican. All these men had a responsibility for your soul and all of them failed you. Bishop Aringarosa had no right to trust this mysterious figure, The Teacher, who he knew nothing about and deliver you into his hands. _

"_Now Silas, you must try and forgive all of us. Not just for our sake but for your own sake. Remember, forgiveness sets you free of being burdened with hatred and anger and desire for revenge._

"_God bless you, Silas."_

The tape ran out.

"You can keep the tape and the recorder, if you wish", D'Arco said.

Silently, Silas cut away the rope that tied D'Arco to the chair and escorted him to the property border. He didn't return his gun to him, Sennett noted later. He still had it with him when he came back to the house.

"I made sure he actually left," Silas said, "I waited until the car drove off."

"Do you think he'll be back?" Sennett asked, looking at the dinner she had cooked earlier and not really wanting to eat it any longer.

"I don't know but my instinct is, probably not," Silas said, his white brows drawn together in a frown, "Assassins are more efficient than that. If he had wanted to kill me, he would have tried much harder. If he had had to kill you as well, he would have."

"So you think he really just came to deliver that message," Sennett said thoughtfully.

Silas nodded slowly.

"Why the gun then?" Sennett asked in confusion.

"Because he knew I was dangerous," Silas said simply, "He knew I'd try and kill him."

"Were you going to?" Sennett asked, horrified.

"Until I saw you, I probably would have. He was a monk with an Opus Dei pin. I can smell another Opus Dei trained assassin a mile off, Sennett. I was one myself. Of course I would have killed him before he could kill me!" Silas said harshly.

"I suppose that's why…" Sennett began to say, thinking of the angel who had led her to the cow sheds at exactly the right moment, and then stopped.

"That's why what?" Silas asked curiously.

"Nothing," Sennett said, shaking her head. Sometimes the weird stuff around her was too much for Silas and he got freaked out by it.

"Why did you come to the cow sheds tonight?" Silas asked curiously.

"Um… I was just going to walk back with you before dinner," Sennett said lightly.

"I'm glad you chose tonight," he said quietly.

"Yes, me too," she said and put her arms around his waist and hugged him.

* * *

Silas was awake at 2am, his adrenalin still ticking over. He wasn't sure when he'd known something wasn't right. It was soon after the other men had left for the night and he was tidying up his tools having done some work on a cow that was having problems with one of its hooves.

Perhaps it was the flicker of a shadow in the barn windows on one side, just a minute change of light. Maybe it was the sound of ultra careful footsteps over grass and gravel where there should have been silence, but Silas had that prickling over his skin that warned him of trouble.

He had immediately taken a particularly nasty knife from his husbandry kit and slipped into one of the milking stalls just in time to see the barn door begin to open. The minute a monk with an Opus Dei pin stepped into the barn, he knew his instincts had been right. He waited until the monk had taken a few steps inside and was looking up before he pounced and wrenched his arms behind his back.

To his surprise, the monk didn't put up much of a fight.

Then strangely, Sennett had appeared at just the right moment to disarm the monk before it could turn into a wrestling match that could have become nasty.

Then again, Sennett had a strange propensity for doing all sorts of things like that. Her sense of timing was uncanny.

He had the tape recorder in the drawer of his bedside table. He would play it again some time when he was alone. The message it contained was too incredible, too improbable, to just to listen to at any old time.

He had been abused by many people in his life but few, if any, had ever sought his forgiveness. It seemed he spent his life seeking forgiveness for his own sins. Endlessly punishing himself in one way or another for all the wrong things he had done. His back bore the scars of some of those efforts and the skin of his thighs was permanently disfigured from the scars of other efforts. Sennett said his sins had been paid for at the cross of Christ and he tried to remember that but it was hard to break the habit of self punishment and guilt. Sometimes he worked himself too hard on the farm and got dizzy or injured himself from over-tiredness. Sometimes he didn't eat regularly enough during the day or ate too little. He didn't sleep enough at night and got tired. In many small ways, he was always punishing himself.

To have someone make a point of asking him for forgiveness was strange. He couldn't describe the feeling. It was like someone finally acknowledging his humanity for the first time. For the first time, he felt as though he was allowed a space in the world and some degree of dignity. He wasn't a dog, he was a person. He was allowed to exist without apology or cringing, without having to do extraordinary things in order to earn a place, in order just to be tolerated. He wasn't a ghost any longer; he was taking on solid form and shape.

Something broke inside Silas and he felt the warmth of tears slide down his face. He tried to remember the last time he cried. Was it when Aringarosa died? Yes, soon after he'd gotten to Sennett's flat. He'd cried a few times in those days but little before or since.

He wondered if he would ever feel like a normal person.

* * *

**[Saturday morning]**

Cardinal Morelli greeted Mortati with the usual formalities between Carmerlengo and Pope.

"D'Arco is back," was the first piece of news he imparted.

"Good," Mortati said, "Bring him in to see me as soon as possible. In the meantime, I have had some very interesting news."

Morelli looked at the Pontiff questioningly.

"It's a strange coincidence what with having found Silas again so recently or perhaps it isn't a coincidence at all. My sources inform me that the Priory of Sion has officially disbanded and not the false dissolution of 1967 either. Apparently there is a great deal of anger amongst former members," Mortati said quietly.

Morelli stared at him. Aringarosa had done terrible things to bring this very thing about and now, without the Church having to do anything at all, it had happened.

"How did this happen?" he asked, amazed.

"I don't have the full story but apparently, the bones of Magdalene were finally found, just as Aringarosa feared they would be. A DNA test was done and there was no correlation at all between the DNA of the ancient bones and that of the surviving members of the so-called Merovingian line – a brother and sister," Mortati said, rubbing his eyes with one hand.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

"_This is my __resting __place__ forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it."_

_Psalm 132:14_

Morelli's lips parted in amazement.

"All those murders really were for nothing, just as we thought," he said finally, shaking his head, "May God have mercy on Aringarosa's soul."

"Guess who ordered the DNA tests?" Mortati said, raising his bushy, grey eyebrows at Morelli. Mortati paused for dramatic emphasis, "Sennett Langlois."

This time Morelli was speechless.

"So Silas must know and must have known for quite some time, even longer than the Priory members," Mortati continued, "Imagine how he must have felt when he realised he was asked to murder four men through the agency of a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, a man he trusted like a father, and it was all for nothing!" Mortati said with a combination of helpless anger and bitterness.

Morelli finally found his voice,

"You've done everything you can do. You've sought forgiveness. It's up to Silas now," he said soothingly.

"I know," Mortati said broodingly, "But there is something else. I want Magdalene's bones, Morelli. They should be in the possession of the Church. I don't know where they are. I'll need Sennett's help to move them to the Vatican. I doubt the Priory will want to keep them now."

Morelli's eyes widened. Of course the Church should have such precious relics and of course the Priory would no longer want them. He should have realised that immediately.

"It's a delicate mission, Morelli. One I can't trust to anyone else. I'll have to go myself and incognito," Mortati said.

"You can't! You're the Pope! It's far too dangerous for you to travel on your own without the usual security arrangements," Morelli said, immediately anxious.

"I can't let anyone else know what I'm doing. We can't take any risk that those relics will be lost to the Church and I can't send a representative. The conversation will be too delicate. I can't trust anyone else," Mortati said firmly, "I can't lose Magdalene's relics, Morelli. I just can't!"

Morelli realised Mortati had tears in his eyes. He suddenly realised what Magdalene's relics meant to him and that arguing would be useless.

* * *

Less than half an hour later, D'Arco arrived, looking as still and impassive as he had on the first visit.

"You found Silas?" Mortati asked keenly.

"Yes, your Holiness," D'Arco replied calmly.

"The message was delivered?" Mortati probed.

"Yes, your Holiness," D'Arco repeated.

"Did you have any trouble?" Mortati said, his eyes narrowed.

D'Arco raised his dark eyebrows and lifted his chin to display the long but shallow cut where Silas had held the dangerous knife to his throat. Then he pushed the sleeves of his robe up to reveal the bruises on his arms where Silas had held him.

"I was lucky to get away alive. Silas jumped me and Sennett appeared on the scene just at the right moment to disarm me. I ended up trussed like a turkey with my own gun pointed at me," D'Arco said, his deep voice heavy with irony.

"Silas is extraordinarily dangerous when he feels threatened," Mortati said broodingly, staring out of the window onto St Peter's Square.

"He is the most dangerous opponent I have ever come across," D'Arco said flatly. "He has the instincts of a cat and the strength of a bear. I think Sennett appearing when she did saved my life. She told him to stop and he did," D'Arco added thoughtfully.

"She must have a remarkable hold over him, to be able to overcome the raging fear that sits deep in Silas' soul like that. It's amazing he can even hear her or see her when he's in the grip of that fear and rage," Cardinal Morelli said musingly.

Mortati smiled at his old friend.

"You have the heart of a true priest," he said, "You understand the human heart, my friend."

Morelli smiled slightly but turned back to D'Arco.

"I'm very glad you are back safe and sound. Do you think he would trust another representative of the Church arriving in secret now?" he asked with concern.

"To be honest, no. I don't think Silas will ever completely trust a church figure unless he knows them first," D'Arco said flatly.

Morelli looked worried.

"I think that makes your idea far too dangerous, your Holiness," he said, turning to Mortati.

"It's a risk that has to be taken. Besides, it's Sennett I'm going to go and see. I'll try and time my visit so that Silas won't be there – at least, not initially," Mortati replied shrewdly.

"Can I be of service to your Holiness again?" D'Arco asked, not really liking the idea of having to come face to face with the white-faced demon he'd encountered in Switzerland.

"No Bernardo, you have done enough. You need to rest now. You look like you haven't slept," Mortati said.

D'Arco knelt and kissed Mortati's ring and left swiftly.

"I didn't think Silas would best D'Arco, to be honest," Morelli commented.

"Silas has more fear and anger. Fear and anger will win over training, any day," Mortati said, almost sadly.

"So Silas will always be the most dangerous," Morelli observed.

"Unfortunately for Silas, I believe so," Mortati said and got up from his chair to face the day's duties.

* * *

Mortati was not able to slip away from the Vatican for 48 hours until a few days later. There were a few feast days where he had to preside over mass at St Peter's Basilica.

Like D'Arco, he took the Papal helicopter into Zurich airport then drove himself to Berne University. By then, it was Thursday of the following week.

He was not dressed in clerical robes but wore the white shirt and black trousers of a parish priest. Again like D'Arco, he asked at the front desk for directions to Sennett's office.

She had a student with her when he arrived, so he went and found the cafeteria and had a cup of coffee until she was free. When he came back, she was working at her computer and she looked up with a smile and offered him a chair.

"How can I help you?" she said simply.

Mortati noted the wedding ring on her finger. So she and Silas were married. He had wondered how far their relationship had progressed.

"You are Silas' wife?" he asked pleasantly.

Her faced closed over immediately.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are," she said, just as pleasantly.

"I am Pope Honorius IV. I sent Silas a message last week. I think he almost killed my messenger," Mortati said with a slight smile.

Sennett looked at him keenly then typed something into her computer. Mortati realized she was looking up the internet for an image of him to compare. She was obviously satisfied with the results.

"It's an honour to meet you, your Holiness," Sennett said, "Can I offer you some tea?"

"I just had some coffee, thank you. How is Silas now?" Mortati asked, genuinely wanting to know.

"I think it helped him a great deal. I don't think too many people have said sorry to him in his life and he has been greatly sinned against," Sennett said, looking down at her desk and playing with her wedding ring.

"Yes, I know," Mortati said quietly.

"Did you come to see me about Silas?" Sennett asked.

"No, I wanted to ask you about Magdalene's relics," Mortati said, cutting to the chase.

Sennett looked at him sharply but said nothing.

"I understand that you must know where they are, as you performed the DNA tests that shattered the Priory of Sion recently," he continued.

"The relics have been moved," Sennett said carefully. She didn't bother to ask the Pontiff how he knew all this. She knew he would have better sources about these matters than MI5 or the CIA.

"The Priory moved them?" Mortati probed.

"No, I had them moved before the Priory could hide them again," Sennett admitted, "The Priory don't know where they are."

Mortati almost smiled. It was far better than he expected. Now the ex-Priory members needn't be involved at all.

"What were you planning to do with Magdalene's relics now?" he asked carefully.

"Leave them where they are. They are perfectly safe," Sennett replied simply.

"Are they?" Mortati prodded.

"Yes, only one person knows the code to get to them and it isn't recorded anywhere," Sennett said, "It's behind bomb-proof steel and laser sensors and needs both thumb and cornea prints to get in as well as the code."

"Impressive," Mortati acknowledged, "However, we have those same protective measures in the Vatican," he said insinuatingly.

Sennett was silent. She could see where this was leading. Well, she wasn't against it but she'd let him make his pitch first before agreeing.

"Don't you think relics as precious as this should belong to the Church?" Mortati said plainly.

"I'm not adverse to the idea," Sennett said calmly with a shrug.

"Its something I feel very strongly about," Mortati admitted in a low voice, "It's incredible to think Magdalene's remains may have survived so very long. To have the relics of someone who walked with Christ, who was the first to see His empty tomb, who was the first person to proclaim the Gospel – He is risen!" Mortati seemed speechless.

When he looked up, Sennett could see the tears in his eyes. She felt them pricking at her own eyes as well. Magdalene's remains had come to mean something different to her during the past few months; they were so closely tied to Silas' healing and peace of mind. On the other hand, they had tremendous significance to the Christian world. They did need to be given back.

"How would you organise the security?" Sennett asked.

"I would use the Vatican's helicopter to transport the relics and I have my own personal guard, of course. The Vatican is full of priceless art and relics. We have very good security – as good as the best art galleries, museums and political states in the world," Mortati explained.

Sennett nodded slowly.

"Will you tell me where the relics are?" Mortati asked, his tone almost pleading.

Sennett shook her head.

"Not until it is time for pick up. I will make arrangements for this end and give you the day. You arrange for your security and transport for that day. We'll have a rendezvous point and go from there to the place where it is kept. From there, you can take it back to the Vatican," Sennett said.

Although she tended to trust the Pope, she had a feeling that he would move heaven and hell to get Magdalene's remains and she wasn't going to put Phillippe in the way of any kind of inconvenience, let alone danger, if the Pontiff got impatient and wouldn't wait until Phillippe was ready to do the handover.

Mortati spread his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"With that, I am more than content. Thank you, Sennett," he said humbly.


End file.
